


Human?!?!

by Evil_Panda_Roar



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gore, Human Bill Cipher, Humor, Idiot Dipper, Lots of Angst, Lots of things I didn't intend to add at first, M/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-06-09 22:02:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 34
Words: 73,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6925093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Panda_Roar/pseuds/Evil_Panda_Roar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel and Dipper make it back to Gravity Falls for the summer of their sixteenth birthday. The Stans hear about their visit and decide to spend some time with their great niece and nephew. The summer seems like it's going to be the best summer yet, and they don't have to worry about Bill this year. Yeah right, Bill is back and has a plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

(Dipper’s POV)

“I’m so excited!!” Mabel shouted while we rode in the back seat of the bus. 

“I know, I can’t believe we’re finally going back to Gravity Falls. I wonder what Soos did to the Mystery Shack while we were gone.” Since it’s going to be our sixteenth birthday we were able to convince our parents to let us spend this summer in Gravity Falls. It was an absolute miracle considering what happened last time; though no one told them all the details on how the summer ended, thankfully. 

“I wonder if Waddles will be okay back at home.” Mabel got sincere. I asked her to leave Waddles at home over the summer, in case something weird happened again that might put him in danger.

“Our parents love him! There’s no way anything bad could happen to him while he’s at home.” Though it did take a while for them to even accept that Mabel now had a pet pig she was going to keep with her until her death. “It’s going to be weird without Grunkle Stan or Ford.” I mumbled to myself. They were out traveling and saving the world; I doubted we would be able to see them this summer. But at least we are going to be able to see Soos, The Mystery Shack, Mabel could meet her friends again, and I would be able to do some exploring in the forest around the Shack.

“I sent them a message! I bet they are already there waiting for us!” Mabel was convinced they were going to meet us there, and I didn’t have the heart to crush her hopes. 

“We’re here!” I said excitedly when things started getting familiar; but, when the bus made it to its stop I couldn’t see anyone waiting for us. 

“Where is everyone?” Mabel looked at me disappointed in the lack of greeting. Honestly, I felt the same way. It took us longer to get off the bus than the driver was okay with, so in the end we were kicked off. “Do you think they forgot?”

“Maybe, they could just be late.” I tried to cheer my sister up, but at the same time I didn’t believe what I was saying. They had to have forgotten. “Let’s just wait here for a while.” Putting on a fake smile to keep my distraught sister from crying. 

We had been sitting on the bus stop bench for almost an hour when I gave up on waiting for them. They must have forgotten us. I sighed and was about to tell Mabel we should just walk to the Shack when a loud racket from the road caught our attention. We looked at the same time. It was an all too familiar car. Heh, Soos even kept Grunkle Stan’s car. Both of our spirits were lifted with the sight of that magical yet ordinary car. It stopped right in front of us, and we could finally see everyone inside, and it was everyone. Even Stan and Ford. 

“You guys!” I jumped up and ran to the car to greet everyone as they started exiting the car. 

“Sorry we were late, this old grump took too long getting ready.” Ford said pointing to Stan.

“It wasn’t just me. You had to go through all your research ten times before you let any of us leave.” Stan grumbled. Thankfully they weren’t at each other’s throats like they had been before. Their bickering turned into good old sibling teasing. 

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel shouted and ran to hug our great uncle; who had been driving the car. Ford held out his hand and I happily shook it. This summer is already better than I could have hoped for. 

“Yo, what’s up?” I heard Wendy say. Out of all the people I expected to see it wasn’t Wendy. She had been planning on leaving Gravity Falls as soon as she could. 

“Hey, What are you doing here?” I asked. “Not that I’m upset to see you.” I clarified. 

“Well I get summer break too in college, so I heard you two were going to be here and I couldn’t resist. I hope this summer will be as great as the last; except with less life threatening situations.” I could tell she was talking about the Weirdmageddon, but with the ‘Never Mind All That’ law in place no one is supposed to say stuff about it in public in case it might bring back bad memories. 

“Yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck, remembering all the times Wendy was in danger because of some weird adventure we went on. She never seemed to mind it however. 

“So did you get yourself a girlfriend after all these years?” Wendy decided to tease. 

“U-um no. Not really.” I responded nervously. Over these past years I have been thinking, and one thing I have been thinking about is that I might not like girls as much as I thought I did. Yeah, I did have that crush on Wendy before, but that’s long since past.

“Haven’t you heard!” Mabel ran to the passenger side of the car. “Dipper isn-” I covered my sister’s mouth. They don’t need to know about this. As I had expected she licked my hand. I quickly wiped my hand across her face. “Ew Dipper!” My sister whined

“It’s your own fault for licking my hand.”

“Well I don’t see why you don’t want them knowing. They are going to find out sooner or later.” My sister crossed her arms and went to talk to Soos who had been silently crying, I’m guessing from happiness, in the background. 

“Oh, look at who has some secrets.” Wendy dropped the subject after that, but I could tell from Ford’s expression he was planning on having a talk with me later. Thanks a lot Mabel. We all piled into the car. There was barely enough room, but we made it work. 

“Off to the Mystery Shack!” Mabel held out her arm as though she was leading an attack. There is no doubt this summer will be perfect, now that this year we don’t have to worry about Bill. I shivered at the memories. For a while after that I would have nightmares about the events that happened during those days. 

The first sight I got of the Shack brought back a wave of memories. It looked almost exactly the same; except Soos obviously kept it cleaner than Stan ever did. Even the S still wasn’t fixed; honestly I think it just adds to the feeling of the place. Mabel and I ran off to the attic the first chance we got. 

“Nothing has changed.” My eyes scanned the room. Everything was as we left it, Soos obviously cleaned this room regularly. However, there was still glitter stuck to the floor and walls. The beds were set up neatly, and there wasn’t any water stains or holes in them.

“Dibs!” Mabel shouted and jumped on her bed that was in the same place it had been before. “I can’t believe I have to share a room with you again.” She joked. At our house we were able to have separate rooms, but with Stan and Ford being back there was no room other than in the attic or in the lab. And I knew better than to ask Ford to sleep down there. 

“Ugh, estrogen overload.” I teased.

“Ewww what is that? It sounds nasty.” My sister said. I couldn’t help but laugh. She should know what that is. 

“Estrogen is a hormone. It’s higher in girls than in guys. It’s like the female testosterone.” I explained simply to her. Hopefully in a way she would understand, otherwise I would have to explain it again.

“Oh. Science nerd.” She called me before rolling around on her bed. She hasn’t changed one bit. I smiled and sat at the edge of my bed. It really does look a lot smaller now.

“Dipper, can I talk to you for a minute?” I heard Ford call for me. Oh great, am I going to have to explain my sexuality to him now? 

“Coming!” I called down to him and went to meet up with him; wherever he was.

“Dipper follow me.” I met Ford in the gift shop; he was standing next to the vending machine that opened into his lab area. Since the Shack was closed for the day he didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing it. Not that most people didn’t know about it anymore.

“Okay.” I have no idea what this could be about. Didn’t he clear out this place? 

“I have something I want to show you. I think you’ll be excited to see it.” Ford told me as we waited for the elevator to stop. I wonder what it could be? We entered the room that used to have pictures of Bill all over the place, but those had been spray painted over by all of us. I still hate Bill. Ford then walked over to a desk and picked up a journal. “I started working on another journal since the last ones had been destroyed. I was wondering if this summer you wanted to help me fill it out.” 

“Of course!” I happily took the journal from Ford. “Thank you so much Great Uncle Ford.” Thankfully, even since all this time has passed I still love going on adventures. I doubt that’s something I will ever be free from.

“Now, what was it you are keeping secret, Dipper?” Ford finally got to the point of all of this, but now that I have a physical journal in my hands not even that is going to get me down. That’s his genius persuasion technique. I never thought I was going to be able to find another journal about Gravity Falls since Bill burnt them all, but this time I am going to be the one writing a journal.

“Well I don’t really think I’m interested in girls.” I said honestly. If Ford was going to trust me with a journal I might as well tell him that. 

“Oh, is that so? And that was what you were so worried about your sister saying? I thought for sure she was going to say you got a girl pregnant.” 

“GREAT UNCLE FORD! Seriously.” I was probably bright red by now. Is that really what he thought? “Did you really think that?” 

“No, of course not. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise to me though. Don’t worry about it and you don’t need to keep it a secret; we’re all family here.” Ford gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Now get out of here so I can do some research.” 

“I can see Grunkle Stan has been rubbing off on you.” I said just to annoy him; to which I got a grumble in reply. Now that I think about it I haven’t said anything to Soos yet, I should really find the big guy. So I left Ford’s lab to find Soos. 

“Hey Soos!” I called when I spotted him leaving the gift shop area of the Shack. 

“Dipper! Where have you been? I was looking for you.” 

“I was talking to Ford.” 

“It’s really great to see you again, and even Mr. Pines came back. This summer is going to be totally awesome.” 

“Heck yeah it is!” Mabel shouted as she jumped down the stairs. “Dipper, is that what I think it is?” She was staring directly at the journal in my hand. 

“Great Uncle Ford gave me it to fill out. Do you want to go on an adventure?” I looked around the room to my two closest friends here; Soos and Mabel. 

“If I ever say no to that, it isn’t me.” Soos said. Mabel just ran out the front door without waiting for either of us. 

“Just one second. I’ll get a pen.” I shouted so my sister could hear me and made my way to the attic. This summer does feel really promising, but so did that one four years ago. However, this year we don’t have our biggest problem to worry about and we have an understanding of the creatures here.


	2. Chapter 2

(Dipper’s POV)

It was really late before we made it back to the Shack. We had ran into those gnomes again, so I filled out the information on them I knew. And was even able to learn a few new thing about them. Like, they hate sour things. They got into Mabel’s stash and took her warheads, and regretted it immediately. 

“That was so much fun. I’m so happy those gnomes aren’t looking for a queen anymore. I really wouldn’t have wanted to be kidnapped by them again.” Mabel said groggily. Both of us were exhausted. 

“Heh, I just couldn’t believe they had such sticky fingers.” I had even lost a few items from my bag because of those guys. I flopped on my bed and almost fell asleep right away, but a creaking from the roof kept me awake. Out of all of the things I remember; that sound was not one of them. “Did you hear that?” I asked Mabel. Who was already deep in sleep. “I guess I’m just being paranoid.” And laid back down on my bed to get some sleep. 

~ ~ ~

I opened my eyes and found I was nowhere, and yet it felt like I was somewhere. All the ground around me was flat, as though some explosion had leveled the ground. No trees, no grass, just dirt. 

“Where am I?” There was no one there and the last thing I expected was getting an answer.

“Don’t you recognize this place?” A soft voice coming from nowhere in particular seemed to whisper directly into my head. 

“No, how am I supposed to?” Then I turned around. The only thing that was left standing was the old train tracks, and the strange formation of the mountains gave away the location. I gasped. “Gravity Falls?” There were no buildings, no sign of life. Just a waste land. 

“Ding, ding, ding. And the winner of that million dollar question is Pine Tree.” Pine Tree? My heartbeat doubled. Bill? I spun around until I was sure there was no one around me. When I stopped spinning the only thing I could see in front of me was the triangle that had haunted my nightmares; even after his death. “Don’t forget, I see everything.” His eye hovered over me, as though I was an insect under a magnifying glass.

~ ~ ~

I woke up in a cold sweat. I haven’t had a dream like that for years. Even though I haven’t moved from my bed I was gasping for air. Should I tell Mabel? Ford? Anyone? This could have just been a nightmare caused by being back here for the first time after those traumatic events. Bill is dead anyways. Stan risked forgetting who he was to get rid of that stupid triangle. 

“Dipper? Are you alright?” I heard a sleepy Mabel ask.

“Yeah, I just had a bad dream.” 

“What was it about?” Bill. Was what I wanted to say, but when I went to say his name nothing came out.

“I think there was a gremloblin in it.” I lied to comfort Mabel and myself. 

“Hah, I bet my dream takes the cake. I dreamt that all of my crushes were locked in a room fighting for my hand in marriage.” Mabel said with a small laugh. “I mean that was probably one of the best dreams I have ever had, but I don’t like seeing hotties getting hurt.” 

“You win. There’s nothing worse than that.” We both laughed sleepily before drifting off again. 

“Mabel! Dipper! Time to get off your lazy butts.” Grunkle Stan called to us from down in the living room. 

“It’s too early for this.” Mabel complained and looked at the clock. “It’s only six in the morning. What would be important enough for us to wake up at this time.” 

“Agreed.” I sighed, but still got up. Before I left our room I grabbed some clothes so I could change in the bathroom. After I got changed I decided to see what Stan wanted. 

“Took you long enough Dipper.” I saw Stan sitting in his favorite chair. Talk about deja vu. Everything is exactly the same; it’s a little creepy. “We’re going to Greasy’s Diner for breakfast.” He said as he stood up.

“Okay, but why do we need to do this at six in the morning?” I asked; a little upset this was the reason I was woken up. 

“Dipper stop being such a party pooper. It’s going to be fun. And I bet you they are having a welcome back party.” Mabel whispered into my ear. Oh, that is a possibility. We did kind of help save the town, and it seemed as though everyone here had been really thankful for that.

“Well let’s get a move on, shall we?” Stan clapped his hands. 

“Yeah okay.” I said less than enthusiastically. Even if there is a party, why do we have to go so early on the first day of summer? 

Our ride there was far from quiet. Mabel had gotten her hopes up and kept begging Stan to tell her why we were going so early, but he wasn’t about to give up any information. If he even had any that is. When we got there balloons were all over the front side of the diner. Well it looks like Mabel had been right. A banner was hanging above the door that read ‘Welcome Back Mystery Twins’. Heh, I wonder what one they mean? Saying both of the Stans are back and so are Mabel and I. Maybe they just thought it was a good banner to work for both. 

“Dipper!! I was right! Party time!” Mabel barely waited for the car to stop before jumping out and running to the diner. 

“That girl is crazy.” Grunkle Stan grumbled. 

“Yes, she is.” I agreed before chasing after her. When I entered the diner the familiar smell washed over me, and of course the amazing smell of pancakes. 

“Welcome back!” I heard a group shout. There wasn’t a face among them I didn’t recognize right away. Even Pacifica was here. I wonder where she is living now that her family is broke? 

“Grenda! Candy!” Mabel reunited with her friends, and a plate of pancakes. 

“Hey Lazy Susan, how’s your eye?” I decided to speak with as many people as I could.

“Oh you know, same old lazy eye. Do you want some pancakes?” Heck yes, I still haven’t had breakfast yet and it feels like my stomach has started eating itself.

“Yes please.” I said as politely as I could. 

“Well look at who learned his manners.” Pacifica walked up to me with a smug look, but it quickly changed. “I missed you guys. It’s so boring here when there isn’t idiots digging up the evil parts of town.” She gave me a genuine smile. 

“Heh, how’s things been since we’ve been gone?” I asked. 

“Same old, same old. Well except now I think everyone is more on edge than before. We all know why. Most things are back to the way they were though.” She hinted again at what happened all those years ago. At least I’m not the only one still bothered by that, but my nightmare from last night caused me to shiver.

“Have you had any strange dreams lately?” 

“No, why?” She responded quicker than I expected.

“I was just wondering.” 

“Did you have a strange dream?” She was the one asking questions now. 

“No, of course not.” I tried covering my tracks. 

“Pacifica!” Thankfully for me, Mabel decided to join the conversation. You’re a lifesaver Mabel. 

“Ah Mabel…” And they went off to talk to one another. Even though I was alone watching everyone have fun, I didn’t feel left out. It was just nice seeing everyone so happy, and of course, free pancakes. 

After my second plate of free pancakes I decided that I had had enough of this party. Not that I didn’t like it; it’s just that I wanted to get some things down in my journal. What should I look for? Maybe those crystals that can shrink and grow things. I still need to add those. It’s just like starting over with a clear slate; except of course I already knew most of this place’s secrets. 

I started walking farther into the forest looking for something to add into my journal. Surprisingly, I wasn’t able to find anything. Most of the time the supernatural creatures in this forest come for me, not me having to search for them. Before I went too far into the forest I took a seat next to a tree and decided to just go by memory.

“Okay, unicorns are assholes. Gremloblin is not to be messed with, and at all cost do not look them in the eyes. Don’t dump water on them, though it can be a last resort when fighting one. Though I have never seen that work before.” I’m already doing better than Ford. “A mirror is the best way to win against one.” Hmmm anything else. With no more inspiration to add to the journal I looked up at the sky. Heh, what a coincidence. Pine Tree is sitting under a pine tree. Ugh, did I really just think that? It was kinda funny though. Without anything else to write, and a headache from not getting enough sleep, I decided to take a nap…

~ ~ ~ 

I opened my eyes and I was back in that flat wasteland version of Gravity Falls. What is this place? Why am I having this dream? Now that I knew where I was and expected Bill to show up at any time I was more relaxed. In fact; this might be a while, might as well take a seat. I took a seat on the packed down dirt and looked at the sky. It was the first time I had taken notice of it. The sky was a deep red; like a sunset, but the entire sky was like that. 

“What’s with the cocky attitude, Pine Tree?” I heard Bill’s voice come from behind me and jumped to look. There was nothing behind me. After a few seconds of making sure I wasn’t missing anything I sat back down. Only to find Bill in the sky. 

“Stay calm Dipper. This is only a dream.” I whispered to myself

“Did you forget I am a dream demon? This is where I do all my business.” Bill had heard me even though he looked to be as far away as the sun should be. 

“No one asked you.” 

“Now, now, there is no need to be so harsh.” 

“You tried to destroy my dimension! I think I have more than enough reason to hate you!” I shouted. Then Bill appeared really close to me. Close enough I could punch him. Should I? 

“I think we are going to be seeing each other again really soon, Pine Tree, and when we do you better have a plan because things are personal now. To hell with ruling your planet; all I want is the Pines family in ruins.” Bill seemed to grow as his anger grew. Even though I was able to stay calm before, I began freaking out. This can’t be just a normal nightmare anymore. I have to tell Ford. “Oh, it’s far too late for that, Dipper.” Bill spat my name. 

~ ~ ~

 

I jumped up from my spot under the tree. I need to get to Ford right away. Without so much as a second thought I left my bag where it was. There was nothing important in that bag just a few pens and the journal that only has a few pages filled out. Maybe a few other items but not much. After I talk to Ford I will be able to go back and get it. Stan and Mabel were still talking to people at Greasy’s Diner when I made it back. 

“Grunkle Stan, we need to go back to the Shack.” I urgently told him.

“Whoa, slow down there kid. What’s up with you?” 

“I’ll tell you on the way.” I said and began walking away; hoping he would follow me. 

“Why don’t you tell me right now?” Stan was being skeptical. There is no way I could say I think Bill is back. Everyone would get worried when I could be wrong. 

“Grunkle Stan please, just listen to me.” 

“Alright kid, but I expect an explanation on the way back.” 

“You got it.” Mabel decided to stay with her friends at the diner and I was more than happy to let her stay. The less she knows about this the easier it will be for her to be happy. 

“Now are you going to explain yourself?” Stan asked me as he drove away from the diner.

“I have been having strange dreams. I think Bill might be back. He’s been talking to me in my dreams.” I looked at Stan with sympathetic eyes. He had risked everything to get rid of Bill, and if it didn’t work I don’t think he would be able to handle it well.

“Ford thought as much.” Was all he said. Ford had expected this all along?


	3. Chapter 3

(Dipper’s POV)

When Grunkle Stan and I made it back to the Shack I had more questions than answers. Ford knew something like this could happen, but never told Mabel and I? I couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed. I thought I could trust him, but it seems as though he still has a few more secrets up his sleeve. Why does he feel the need to keep those secrets?

“Now stay here, and I’ll talk to Ford.” Grunkle Stan nervously said. I wonder why he is nervous? Would Ford freak out if he heard that Bill was back, if I was him I know I wouldn’t be happy to learn something like that. 

“Got it.” I took a seat in the living room. Today the gift shop was open, so Ford had to be in his room. Too bad we can’t go into the lab; there’s probably a lot more helpful things down there, even if everything that could have been removed had been. There had to be a little left over things in there though. It took a while before I could hear anything.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. That one eyed freak just doesn’t know when to quit.” I heard Ford yell. The two Stans walked into the living room. Ford had been able to compose himself. “Now Dipper, why didn’t you tell me you were having dreams about Bill when they first started happening?” Ford questioned me disappointedly.

“Well I just thought they were nightmares, after what happened I had a lot of them. So I thought that since I was back here the nightmares could have been caused by memories resurfacing.”

“What made you think otherwise?”

“Well I had a similar dream again while I fell asleep out in the forest. I don’t know if it really means Bill is back; I could just be having flashback like dreams.” I tried to play it cool. 

“How many dreams have you had? Where? And When?” Ford bombarded me with questions, but when it comes to Bill knowing as much as possible is always the way to go. 

“I’ve only had two. The first one was last night in the attic. The second one was the one in the forest I just told you about.” Ford was writing down the information I was giving him. I don’t know why he was feeling the need to write it down, but I didn’t question him.

“Could you describe the dreams to me?” I told him everything I knew about my dreams until my head hurt with thinking. Who knew there could be that many details? “There is one last thing I would like to do. If you don’t mind Dipper. That machine I had created before to block Bill from getting into your dreams, I fixed it up, but this time it is to view your dreams because it happened to be easier. I would like to see into your next dream and see if I can find anything.” Well that didn’t sound like the greatest idea. What if Bill doesn’t show up and I have an embarrassing dream while Ford was watching? 

“Is there something else we could do?” I asked, making sure this was the last resort. 

“No, this is the only way to be certain that Bill is actually getting into your dreams. Though now that I think about it; Bill shouldn’t be able to get into the Shack. We put up a barrier.” That’s right!

“Then this must just be some weird nightmares I have been having.” That’s such a relief. 

“It could have been broken however, it’s been awhile since anything like this has happened. We should inspect it before assuming anything.” Ford said, causing me to go back to worrying. Please don’t have to watch my dreams. I silently started hoping. 

“There’s the problem.” I heard Stan say as we were checking the barrier around the Shack. Damn it, my dreams are no longer going to be personal. My great uncle is going to watch my dreams! I walked over hoping that Stan had been mistaken. The hope was crushed when I found that a piece of unicorn hair was missing. That means that really could have been Bill inside my head. 

“Sorry kid. Looks like we are going to have to inspect that head of yours.” Stan said while ruffling my hair. I was taller now, but still not as tall as Stan or Ford. Unfortunately, I just learned that I am the perfect height for Stan to use me as a elbow rest, and at armpit level, gross. Am I always going to be short? I thought about my age and how most guys my age are about as tall as they are ever going to get, but not all of them. There’s still hope for me. 

“Soos just closed the Mystery Shack. We should head to the lab now.” Ford called to us. Stan had picked up Mabel, and we had to tell her everything that happened for her safety. So now she was unrelenting in her pursuit to watch my dream with everyone else. Heck, even Soos was going to be watching. I was more nervous and sweaty than I have been in a long time. I just hope we find what we are looking for. 

“Dipper, why didn’t you tell me that nightmare you had was about Bill?” Mabel asked me sadly. 

“I didn’t want to worry you if it was just a regular old nightmare.” I told her, but it did nothing to cheer her up.

“I just hope this really isn’t Bill. I’ve had enough of him already.” Mabel added. Everyone nodded in agreement. The elevator opened up to the room where I am going to be dream violated by my family. Ford put the helmet on my head.

“Now drink this. The best thing to do is to drink it all at once.” He handed me a glass filled with a small amount of liquid. Well, here I go. I drank it quickly, and thankful for doing so. The drink smelled like a skunk and didn’t taste much better. 

~ ~ ~ 

It felt as though I just blinked my eyes and I was back at the desolate Gravity Falls. Can those guys really see into my dream right now? Well here goes nothing.

“Bill, I know you are here.” I said; hoping to get a response. Nothing happened. “Come on and say something already?” I mumbled questioningly. Maybe these were just normal dreams and Bill was just my imagination trying to freak me out? A guy can hope anyways.

“How’s it going Pine Tree? I see you’ve invited your family here too. This couldn’t get any better.” I heard Bill’s voice from behind me and turned to look at him. Only to get hit in the face with a baseball bat. Even though this was just a dream it still hurt. At least when I wake up this will just be a bad dream. “This is only a dream, but it’s still nice making your family worry about you.” I was hit again. But then everything seemed to freeze.

~ ~ ~

(Mabel’s POV)

“Dipper watch out! We need to wake him up!” I kept shouting for Ford to wake up Dipper. Bill was attacking Dipper relentlessly, but Ford said he couldn’t wake Dipper up. 

“Mabel, don’t worry. Dipper isn’t really getting hurt.” Ford told me, but that didn’t matter. My brother was being hurt by that stupid triangle and I wasn’t going to let him get the last laugh. Why isn’t Dipper fighting back? Last time we were in the dreamscape Dipper was the one who came up with the plan to beat Bill. This wasn’t even his worse. Compared to what I knew Bill could do this was child's play. 

“Bill’s just trying to get to us.” Stan stood in place. Only Soos and I were worried for Dipper. 

We watched until the end. Dipper never tried fighting back. That didn’t seem like him at all. Something must have been happening that we couldn’t see. Once he finally woke up no one asked him any questions and ushered him upstairs to the attic. He looked dazed and didn’t protest. When everyone else left I decided to ask the question that had been on my mind. 

(Dipper’s POV)

“What really happened?” Mabel asked me randomly. 

“What do you mean? Didn’t you see?” I looked at her confused. 

“Just tell me.” Mabel got really serious. “I saw Bill hurting you, but something else had to have been happening. You weren’t fighting back and you always fight back. You are the most stubborn person I know.” I chuckled a little.

“Well at first I did get hit, but I wasn’t getting beaten in my dream after a few hits. What you were seeing was fake.” I paused. “Bill told me that Ford was keeping something secret from us, but he had already figured it out. He said that he found another way into our dimension.” I thought back on what he had told me, but didn’t ponder it long. Bill being back isn’t something I want to think about.

“DIPPER! We need to tell Stan and Ford right away.” I sighed. I knew telling them would be the best thing we could do, but Bill said it was already too late. We wouldn’t be able to stop him if we tried. And should we even trust Ford? He’s kept a lot of secrets from us and they seem to keep coming. There I am being paranoid again.

“Do you really think that would help?” 

“Of course it would! What are you thinking Dipper?” Mabel was scared, and I couldn’t blame her. We didn’t want to have to deal with Bill again. For Mabel’s sake I was going to tell Stan and Ford.

“Then let’s tell them.” 

We made our way into the living room where we found Stan. Mabel was able to get Stan to leave his chair and wait for me and Ford. I went to Ford's room alone; not telling Mabel that I had my own plan. If Ford knows something he is going to have to tell me before I tell him anything. I knocked on the door and waited for a reply. The door opened revealing my great uncle Ford.

“Do you know something we should know?” Was the first thing that came out of my mouth. 

“What are you talking about Dipper? Are you feeling okay after what happened?” He looked at me concerned as though I had lost my mind. Which he probably was worried would happen considering what Mabel told me they saw.

“There is something you aren’t telling us about Bill and I think you should tell us right now.” I retorted. 

“Did he say something to you?” Ford eyes got wide and worried. 

“I’m not telling you anything until you tell me what you’re hiding.” 

“Dipper I will tell you anything you want to know as long as you tell me what Bill said to you.” I decided to take the chance. If he didn’t tell me anything then I guess I could always find another way to figure it out. I’m not a stupid twelve year old anymore. 

“Bill told me he knows another way into our dimension.” I could see the blood drain from my great uncle’s face. 

“There’s no way he would do it. He wouldn’t… Would he?” Ford entered his room again messing with some papers on his desk, leaving his door open. I followed him into his room.

“Now you tell me what it is that you know.” I ordered.

“I’ll tell you on the way. Get Stan and your sister. We need to go somewhere, and fast.” I glared at Ford before leaving the room to do as he told me.

At nine at night we began our journey through the forest to find whatever it is that Ford was so worried about. All of us wanted to know what was happening, but we were waiting for Ford to start that conversation. He didn’t seem like he was wanting to, so I guess I am going to have to nudge him a little.

“Great Uncle Ford, what do you still have to tell us?” I questioned. He sighed before slowing down his pace so he could talk to us.

“Bill wasn’t lying when he said there is another way for him to get into our dimension. I just never considered he would actually do it. It’s far too risky, even for him.” Ford paused while we all waited for him to continue. Even Grunkle Stan looked like he didn’t know what Ford was talking about. “There is a way for Bill to make it into our dimension, but it requires that he gives up all of his powers and becomes human. Just like us. I never considered it because he was always so power hungry; he would never risk losing even a small amount of his power. But something may have changed.”

“So wait, you’re all freaked out because Bill is going to be human? We’ve taken him on when he was more powerful than Time Baby. This will be simple.” I stated. This is almost funny. Why would Ford be so worried about this?

“That isn’t all though. He may have to give up his powers, but it isn’t gone forever. His powers would be spread around the globe, and all he has to do is find it before anyone else. But if someone else finds it before him we will be in an even worse situation.” Ford continued. “And have any of you seen what he looks like as a human before? No, so finding him will be almost impossible.” Okay, that isn’t funny. Ford should learn to lead with the important information.

“Do you know how to find his power? Do you even know what it is supposed to look like?” I began to freak out. Deep breaths Dipper.

“Dipper calm down. If we can stop Bill before he is able to even enter this dimension then we don’t have to worry about it.” Ford tried to calm me. How am I supposed to be calm at a time like this? 

“This way means that Bill will be able to travel anywhere! And he will be as powerful as before!” 

“No, he won’t. He will still be more powerful than anything else we have dealt with if he is able to get his power back, but with his human body he is limited.” We all had stopped in our tracks to have this conversation. Wasting precious time, but when a light lit up the forest in front of us we all knew it was too late.

“How far are we from where that light came from?” I urgently asked.

“Almost two miles. There’s no way we will be able to get there in time to get Bill.” Ford sounded as though he had given up.

“You guys, don’t give up yet. Dimension travel has to take a lot out of someone. I mean if it was easy than everyone would be doing it, right? We still might be able to get to Bill.” My optimistic sister added. She started running ahead of us using her flashlight to see where she was going.

“Mabel, you don’t even know where to go.” I mumbled to myself as the rest of us tried to keep up. 

When we finally reached the place. There was a perfect circle where the ground was charred black, and the only thing visable inside was a circle with strange markings. No one but us was here. We are too late. 

“Check the surrounding area, he might not be far.” I said before running off into the forest to search for human Bill. 

We had been searching for hours and found nothing. Bill was gone, and he could be anywhere. We have no idea where he might be heading. He could be in Gravity Falls or heading in the exact opposite direction. The only thing that is going to give any of us comfort tonight is knowing that Bill doesn’t have his powers. He wouldn’t try anything until he was more powerful; I’m sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so my friend just informed me that this story will probably be feelsy and angsty, I guess. It never crossed my mind that it might be like that because I know it won't end bad and will be basically 80% humor, but I guess there is a chance for feels. *my best weather-woman's voice* There seems to be a 60% chance of feels, but a 100% chance of Billdip.


	4. Chapter 4

(Dipper’s POV)

A few days had past with no sign of Bill or where his power could be. That was our main concern; if we were able to collect his power before he got to it, he wouldn’t be a problem. Or if someone else got ahold of it Ford said that the power would corrupt them and make them as bad as Bill. Soos was keeping the Mystery Shack open while Ford and Stan were looking for anything peculiar that might give away the location of Bill’s misplaced powers. Mabel and I were helping Soos with the gift shop since neither of the Stans had any use for us.

“Dipper look at this!” Mabel had glued deer antlers to one of her headbands and was walking around running into things. I laughed when she hit a wall and a piece of shelving fell onto her head. “Ow.” She rubbed her head.

“Seriously Mabel, don’t you think you’re a little too old to be doing stuff like that?” I asked her.

“I will never be too old to have fun.” She responded. I began putting the shelf and the objects that were on it back where they had been before. When I turned around Mabel was talking to Soos, and the Shack was empty other than us. Then the door opened. The person who had just entered the Shack had a hoodie on and the hood up so I couldn’t see his face. That kind of reminds me of Robbie. I wonder where that guy is? Not that I would want to see him again, I just want to make sure I can stay as far away from him as possible.

“Welcome to the Mystery Shack.” Soos welcomed the new customer like normal. The customer looked at Soos but didn’t respond and checked the room until he seemed to find what he was looking for. By now even Mabel had stopped talking. What is he doing? 

“Um hello?” I walked up to the strange man. He turned around to face me. 

“Have you been lying recently because your pants are on fire.” Was all that he said. What is he talking- Holy shit my pants are on fire!! I started trying to pat the fire out, but it wasn’t working and the flames only grew.

“Why am I on fire?!” I shouted and began panicking. Where is the fire extinguisher? I’m not taking my pants off in front of a stranger, so how am I supposed to put this fire out. I was about to run for the fire extinguisher that was on the other side of the room, but that stranger made it there before I did.

“Don’t lose your cool.” He said before throwing it at me, and almost hitting me with it. The hell’s wrong with this guy? Not wanting to waste anymore time then I needed I used the fire extinguisher on myself. There were holes in my pants and probably second degree burns on my lower thighs, but the freezing foam from the fire extinguisher numbed all the pain. I am so happy that fire wasn’t any higher. Once my emergency was handled I looked around to see that this stranger’s rampage wasn’t over yet. The next thing he did was go to the shelving with snowglobes and began knocking them all to the ground; breaking most of them.

“Yo dude what are you doing?” Soos tried stopping the guy, but was just brushed off. 

“Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow.” The man was singing as he broke the snowglobes. For the first time since he arrived I got a good look at his face. He had bright blonde hair and somehow looked familiar. Not that it looked like I had seen him before, I would have remembered if I saw someone as good looking as him, but that I knew him somehow. Same with his voice; I feel like I’ve heard it before. Talk about a weird feeling. 

“Don’t you dare.” Mabel warned the stranger who had just made it to the candy at the front of the gift shop. That was her haven, and if he as much as ruined one piece of candy he would be in for it. 

“I dare.” He said before dumping the candy on the ground and stomped on it; all the while keeping eye contact with my sister. “Well this has been fun and all, but I really do have more important fish to fry.” Finally the rude customer left. 

“What was that guy's problem anyway?” I questioned, but then I realized the answer to that question quickly. Could that have been Bill? He was supposed to be human now, and he is the only one who would do something like this. I froze in my spot and looked out one of the windows. Just as I looked out the window it shattered. A rock had been thrown at it. I ran to the door. 

“Bill?” I called to the stranger. 

“Pine Tree.” I got in reply; along with a rock to the face. “Good thing you have that big head of yours otherwise I might have missed.” He mocked before running off into the forest. He’s here, we can still get him.

“What’s with all the racket? Don’t you kids know how to keep it down?” Grunkle Stan walked into the gift shop. 

“Guys, that was Bill.” I said quickly. I turned to face everyone, and they all seemed shocked. “We need to go after him.” I turned again to run out the door.

“Whoa, you aren’t going anywhere. Not with the head injury of yours.” Mabel grabbed my arm to stop me.

“What are you talking about? I’m fine.” 

“No you’re not Dipper. That rock was the size of a golf ball and you’re bleeding everywhere.” I hadn’t paid any attention to where I was hit, but it did hurt. I gently touched the spot and found that I was, in fact, bleeding. 

“That doesn’t mean anything. Head wounds always bleed more.” I tried to reason. My sister shook her head.

“We can find him just fine. Anyways, we need someone here watching the Shack in case he comes back.” Ford said to me as he joined in because of the commotion. “Now you better clean up that cut of yours, and maybe get a change of pants. We’ll take care of Bill.” I was left alone in the Mystery Shack. They even took Soos with them, and I am stuck here alone. The burns on my legs weren’t as bad as I had first assumed, but I could still feel heat coming off of them. Once I was done bandaging myself up I went to clean up the gift shop. 

“Why was I the only one Bill physically hurt?” I asked out loud. He had broken merchandise to bother Soos and ruined Mabel’s candy, but I was the only one that actually got hurt. How did that fire start anyways? I thought he wasn’t supposed to have any of his powers. He could have just had a lighter; that’s a possibility. As I started picking up the broken snow globes the room started getting wobbly. Mabel had been right, my head had been hit pretty hard. I stopped in my tracks when I heard a sigh. 

“Shouldn't you be helping your family search for me? This is a real damper on my plans you know.” Bill had walked back in through the front door. What should I do? I could throw snow globe pieces at him. Or I could use my phone to call Mabel. I went with the second option. As I was just about to call Mabel the cell phone was snatched from my hands. “Really Pine Tree, that’s the best you’ve got?” Now that Bill was close to me I realized how much taller he was. I’m almost a foot shorter than him. Life is just not fair. I desperately tried grabbing for my phone, but it was out of my reach.

“Well you are human now, so I can just do this.” And I punched him in the stomach hoping he would drop my phone, but my punch didn’t even faze him. I really should have thought of a better plan. Bill was laughing hysterically at my failure, but now my phone was within reach. Well that makes my plan not a complete failure. I grabbed my phone and tried to get out of his reach. That didn’t work well when I turned so quickly I fell when the room started spinning again. Bill was laughing even harder now. “I’m glad you find this hysterical.” I grumbled. When I turned to see what he was doing he was collapsed on the ground from laughter. I know this is funny, but it isn’t that funny. Then I took note of the condition Bill was in. I didn’t notice this before since he had a hoodie on; which must have been lost somewhere since he doesn’t have it on now, but he looked like he hadn’t slept, eaten, or had anything to drink for days. Of course Bill would forget things like that. He doesn’t know how to handle human needs. 

“Dipper, I’m sorry but we didn’t find anything.” Mabel walked into the Shack. When she spotted Bill on the ground laughing like a maniac she stopped moving. ‘What?” She looked to me and back at Bill. 

“What is going on?” Stan entered the Shack next. Everyone froze and stared at Bill for a few seconds. Slowly the laughing quieted until Bill laid silent. He really must have needed some sleep. I mean he had been here for three days; he probably didn’t sleep at all.

“Well that takes care of that.” Ford said before grabbing some rope to tie Bill up. 

“What happened?” Mabel asked, and everyone looked at me waiting for the answer.

“I think Bill was just sleep deprived.” I said, not wanting to mention any of my failures to them.

“But what made him laugh so hard?” Mabel started getting that look of hers that said ‘I know you are hiding something’.

“He just lost it. I don’t know.” I wasn’t giving up anything. 

“Pine Tree punches like a baby.” I heard Bill say. Damn it, why didn’t anyone cover his mouth? 

“You punched him, and that’s what started his laughing fit?” Stan looked to me shocked. Probably feeling as though all his work to make me stronger didn’t do anything.

“Yes.” I mumbled quietly.

“Okay, well now that’s done let’s talk about the real problem.” Ford interrupted. “Now how are we supposed to find where your power is?” He questioned Bill.

“Easy, you don’t. I’m the only one who can actually find where it is.” He replied. 

“Of course there are other ways of finding it, so tell us how.” 

“Anyone else who finds it just stumbles upon it. So if you just want to travel the world hoping to stumble upon a little bit of my power, be my guest.” Bill seemed to be only partially awake right now. 

“Well how do you find it?” I decided to join in on the interrogation. 

“How does a bird know which way is south? Or how does a baby turtle know to make it to the ocean? It’s instinct, I can just tell where it is.” Bill was looking at me the whole time he responded, and I couldn’t help myself from thinking about his looks again. Why does someone so bad have to look so good? I think I now understand Mabel’s obsession with movie villains.

“Then it’s simple. We’ll use Bill to find where his power has been hidden.” Ford said, and it was decided. We are going to have to keep Bill alive, and trust him. That sounds like a bad idea, but it’s all we have.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this story is taking a turn I didn't expect, but I'm planning as I go along. So there may be some gore in this story, and maybe a little more than just a little. I'm sorry if that bothers you and discourages you from continuing to read this fan fic. But seriously people this is a story with Bill in it and if someone isn't getting ripped to shreds than you can't really call that character Bill Cipher. (Don't take it seriously I am writing another fan fic I haven't published yet and Bill does not hurt anyone, so far. I just need some cute Bill moments.)

(Dipper’s POV)

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked Ford. 

“I don’t have any other ideas, and if Bill is the only one who can find where his power is located then we are going to have to use him. It’s too risky to just let his power sit and hope that no one finds it.” Since this had come up we had handcuffed Bill to the couch in the living room. 

“What are we going to do with him after we find it all?” I asked. Ford looked at me gravely. 

“Well I think there's only one way to make sure he doesn't do anything destructive, we’ll have to ‘get rid’ of him.” I was shocked that Ford would say that. There has to be a different way to take care of Bill. Even though I hate the guy I don't want to kill him. “Dipper, this is the only way we can protect everyone from him.” Great uncle Ford said when he noticed my uneasiness. 

“If you say so.” But if I find another way I'm going with that. I left Ford to go to the attic where I could relax. Today has been very eventful, and my head still hurts. Not to mention every once in awhile the room starts spinning. When I opened the door to the attic the room was empty. Mabel must be watching Bill with Soos. That's what they were doing the last time I saw them.

“I think you forgot this.” A voice came from behind the door. Not just any voice, Bill’s voice. I closed the door to see him holding my backpack. 

“How did you get that?” I left that in the forest and Bill is supposed to be handcuffed in the living room. “How did you get out?”

“I may have gotten to a little crystal already, so I just kinda broke the handcuffs and picked up your bag.” I looked at him skeptically.

“Why would you do that?” If he had the chance to escape why wouldn't he take it?

“I just had the amazing idea that I could get more done if I stuck around, so I'm willing to help you find the crystals. Which I'm guessing you don't know that the power you are looking for comes in the form of crystals. Am I correct?” Bill had a smug look and I didn't know if I should trust him.

“Why would you help us?” I was still unsure of him.

“Well I consider it an opportunity.” He threw my bag on the ground then walked to my bed and flopped on it. His feet were hanging off the bed. “How can you sleep on this it's so small? Oh wait, you're short, that's why.” 

“Why do you have to bother me all the time? Why did you visit my dreams and no one else's?” I spread my arms out in front of me for emphasis. Because seriously, why am I the one he keeps bothering?

“Because I like you. You are smart, but not very bright.” He said smirking at me. 

“What do you mean?” I couldn't help but feel he was trying to insult me.

“You have school smarts, but don't excel in really anything else. In fact-”

“DIPPER! DIPPER! BILL IS GONE!” Mabel ran into the attic.

“How's it going, Shooting Star?” Bill brought her attention to him. 

“What is going on?” She looked between us as though not sure who to ask.

“I don't really like being chained up, and don't worry I'm not going anywhere. And I’ll promise not to hurt anyone, physically.” Bill rolled over so he was laying on his stomach on my bed. Don’t make yourself too comfortable Bill, he quickly flipped over. It didn’t seem like my thoughts had anything to do with it though because he still looked like he was enjoying himself.

“We should tell Stan and Ford about this.” Mabel said, and I agreed with her.

“Have fun with that.” Bill said and pulled a bag out from under my bed. Where the hell did he get that?

“What’s that?” I asked him as he started pulling food out of the bag. Really?

“I stopped by a store while I went to pick up your bag. I saw some things that looked interesting and took them.” He opened a can of pringles and dumped its contents on his face. Bill why? You’re on my bed.

“You stole that stuff?” Mabel was furious. She always hated people who did stuff like that.

“No I paid for all of it.”

“With what money? You had to have stolen money to ‘buy’ that stuff.”

“I took it from Stan, so it would have been stolen anyway. Steal from the rich and give to the poor and all. And I happen to be poor.” 

“Where the hell is Bill!” I heard Ford shout from the living room. 

“He’s up here.” I shouted to Ford. 

“Aw, why do you have to be such a goody two shoes?” Bill jokingly complained as he inspected a packet of beef jerky he had gotten out of his bag. I heard Ford rush up the stairs. 

“What’s going on? How did he get out?” 

“It seems he’s already got some of his power back.” I clarified as Bill was too busy eating to respond. He just nodded his head. 

“What is this stuff? It taste really good.” He commented on the now empty bag of jerky. He really is eating a lot, and even worse, he’s messy. There is no way I am going to be able to clean my bed enough. 

“It’s beef.” I told him quickly and focused on my great uncle again. He seemed to be fuming. 

“What’s that?” Bill questioned. He really is dumb.

“It’s cow meat.” I responded. 

“So those black and white four legged creatures that always yell at me?” Bill questioned. I was not in the mood for answering him.

“Dipper, he’s your responsibility.” Was all Ford had said and left the room looking like he was ready to murder someone.

“What?!?!” I’ve had enough of him already. Now Ford is telling me I have to watch over this mess. 

“You heard me!” He shouted from downstairs. I glared at Bill who had stopped paying attention to his food to smirk at me. 

“This is going to be fun.” He said softly. This is going to be the exact opposite of fun. I chased after Ford to get a reason for this. 

“Ford, why are you putting me in charge of watching him?” I asked when I finally caught up to him.

“Because he seems to follow you around anyways, and I don’t have time to deal with him. I’m trying to find another way we can find his power before someone else does, but for now we are going to have to follow him. I just hope that isn’t going to be off a cliff.” Ford began mumbling as he walked away. 

“What am I supposed to do?” I asked. How am I going to keep Bill under control? Right now he seems to be able to show up wherever he wants. Ford stopped and sighed.

“Make him wear this. We’ll be able to find him anywhere as long as he is wearing it. It could be part of the ‘deal’.” Ford said holding out a watch.

“Did I hear someone mention something about a deal?” Bill showed up. Of course he would show up now.

“Yeah, the deal will be this: we will not harm you until you help us find where all of your power is located, and while that happens we will give you food and a place to stay,” Ford choked out the word, but knew he would have to add something that would benefit Bill for him to accept the deal. “and to make sure you don't’ leave you will wear this.” Ford said holding up the watch. 

“Sounds like a good deal.” Bill had a strange grin as he shook hands with Ford. Why does he even still do that? He isn’t a demon and doesn’t really have to make deals. I guess old habits die hard. “But really? I’ve gotten out of my cage just to be leashed.” Bill mumbled, but didn’t add any more comments.

“And Dipper you wear this one.” Ford handed me another watch. “I created them for when Stan and I went investigating. It will notify you and my device” which was just a little box with a light on it. Talk about a strange device, it has no other purpose than that? “If one of you goes beyond a mile of the other.” Bill had already put his watch on, and disappeared quickly without saying anything. In fact it looked like he was wanting to rush out of this since it began. Where did he go? “And Dipper, if you ever want to see where he is just push this button and it will lead you to him.” Ford pushed a button on the side and a small map showed up on its face.

“That’s really cool. How did you make these?” 

“I’ll explain later.” He turned and left. Well now I guess I should look for Bill. The map; which only seemed to cover a mile circle, said that Bill was still near by. Probably still in the Shack. He better not be on my bed again. I ran up to the attic to find him talking to Mabel. What?

“If you are all knowing then why don’t you tell me who my soulmate is?” Mabel seemed to be trying to stump Bill, but honestly that didn’t seem to faze him.

“I don’t want to ruin the surprise. Anyways, I don’t want to ruin the chance you never realize who they are. That would be the greatest.” He laughed at the thought of Mabel never finding her true love, or whatever it is she was asking for. She quickly punched him in the face, actually leaving a mark.

“Not bad, not bad.” Bill nodded slowly. “I can’t believe how much stronger you are than Dipper.” He was acting as though he didn’t already realize I was here, and probably only mentioned that to bother me. 

“Well, I am the alpha twin!” She put her hands on her hips.

“Mabel, I thought you were over that.” 

“Alpha twin! Alpha twin! Alpha twin!” She started chanting in my face. 

“Well this has been fun and all but I have a mile of free roam and I am not going to stay here locked up with you two all day.” Bill said.

“No, you are staying here.” Mabel said in her most threatening voice. She even startled me; what got over her all of a sudden? “You are going to join us in a game of truth or dare.” She added cheerfully.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter does contain a hint at Pinecest. Sorry if you hate it, it shall never really be brought up again. Unless Bill feels the need to ruin Dipper's life. Which we all know will happen sometime.

(Bill’s POV) 

I had no idea what this game of truth or dare was, but I decided to give it a go. Also, Mabel looked like she would want my head if I left at the moment. I wasn’t scared of her or anything; I just know I need a good relationship with her to get my plan to really work. 

“Great, now then, I’ll call Grenda and Candy and this game will officially be started.” Mabel cheered as Pine Tree tried sneaking away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I appeared leaning on the door frame. 

“Yeah Dipper, you’re playing too.” Mabel added happily. 

“You have no idea what you are getting yourself into. Mabel doesn’t play ordinary truth or dare. There will be bloodshed and tears.” Pine Tree warned. That sounds perfect. Maybe this will actually be fun?

“Well now you got my hopes up, I better not be disappointed.” I whispered to him as I made my way to his bed to wait for the game to begin. I didn’t mean to realize this the first time I jumped on his bed; I just wanted to annoy him, but I noticed that I enjoy his smell. Which is something I will never say outloud. It isn’t even a strong smell it’s just one that is there and gives you comfort. Reminder, punch myself in the face for thinking this later. Or, maybe they have knives? That would be fun. It was hard to hold back a smile at the thought of what I could do if I got into their kitchen, so many knives. It would really be perfect.

“Candy! Grenda! We are going to play truth or dare, and we have a new person this time!” Mabel shouted to her friends. She dragged them into the room. “This is Bill.” She said. 

“The weird triangle?” The more masculine looking girl asked in a deep voice.

“Yes, but now he’s human and is going to do what I tell him, and he is going to play with us.” I’m not going to take orders from her. What is she thinking? That since I am human now she is somehow better than me. “Now you all know how this works. I throw this rock” It was completely covered in glitter. “And the first person who makes it back to the Shack with the rock in hand gets to give a truth or dare to all the losers. Well let’s get this started! Oh, but Bill, you cannot use any magical power stuff to win this.” Mabel glared at me. 

“Got it.” So that means I can use them to get someone else to win? That sounds good. Pine Tree get ready to win this thing. We all made our way outside. Mabel made everyone face the Mystery Shack so we wouldn’t see where the rock went and threw the rock behind her. 

“AND LET THE GAME, BEGIN!” She shouted as everyone rushed into the forest. Expect for me and Pine Tree. He didn’t move from his spot. 

“Aren’t you going to play?” I gave him a quizzical look. He better get a move on or else I will have to give him some motivation.

“No, I’m not really into fighting over a rock.” He said and focused on the ground.

“Always have to be the difficult one, don’t you?” I said and moved to pick him up and carry him into the woods. However he jumped away from me the second I turned towards him. 

“What are you planning on doing?” He looked like he expected me to kill him any second.

“Cheating.” 

“Mabel said you couldn’t cheat.” 

“She said I ‘cannot use any magical power stuff to win this’. Not that I couldn’t help someone else.” 

“Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.” My patients was running thin with this brat. Just go along with my plan already.

“Fine, I was just thinking this would be the perfect time for you to get to ask me any question you want, and I would have to tell you the truth. That doesn’t seem to interest you however.” I leaned closer to him as I persuaded him to see why he needs to win this.

“Are you being serious right now? You will help me win so I can ask you questions? Like why you decided to do this now? Or how you even survived in the first place?” Pine Tree finally started to get excited. 

“Yeah, so get looking for that rock already. Otherwise the alpha twin will win.” As if on cue Mabel shouted gleefully. “Looks like you’re going to have to hurry.” He ran into the forest like a man on a mission. I slowly followed him. Shooting Star was running to the Mystery Shack with the rock in her hand. There were tree roots everywhere; maybe I could use that? I raised a tree root in front of her to trip her; she lost grip of the rock, but didn’t fall. Pine Tree caught the rock, but didn’t rush back to the Mystery Shack. Instead the moron glared at me and handed the rock back to his sister. 

“I will fuckin-” I started shouting, but cut myself off. Now Bill, remember you can’t physically hurt them. Mental torture, mental torture. I took a few moments to relax before forming a new plan. That could work.

Shooting Star made it back to the shack. She was covered in cuts from tree branches, but didn’t seem affected by them. Everyone gathered around her waiting for her decrees for their dare or question. I zoned out as she made her friends do the dumbest things. Really? Putting toothpaste into soda and daring your friend to drink it? Finally she got to me.

“Truth or dare?!” She pointed to me.

“Dare.” I swear if she makes me drink that toothpaste mix I will officially ditch this place. Instead she took some time to think. 

“I’ve got it. Dipper, answer truth or dare? Don’t worry it will be connected.” 

“Truth.” He answered his sister's question.

“Really? That’s lame Pine Tree.” I mocked. He glared at me, and I just shrugged him off.

“Ugh Dipper you really are annoying sometimes. You should have said dare. But back to Bill then. Or wait.” She smiled brightly before looking back at her brother. I really like Shooting Star; she’s got a devious streak in her. I wonder what her idea is this time. “Dipper, my wonderful brother. Do you, find human Bill attractive?” His face instantly grew red. 

“Can I pick dare instead?” He asked helplessly. This almost makes me feel better, almost. 

“No you cannot.”

“Fine, I find him attractive, but I still hate him.” He said and tried to glare at me, but his blush made it impossible for his look to be taken seriously.

“AHHH!” Shooting Star started flailing around. “Now Bill for your dare I want you to, in the most convincing way,” She winked at me. “profess your love to Dipper.”

“Mabel what are you doing?” Pine Tree was freaking out by now. 

“I’m sorry bro-bro, but I need to see this. Oh let me get my cell phone out to take a video of this.” This really does make me feel better. Mental torture, not even created by me. The wonderful ideas of a teenage girl’s mind. I made my way to stand next to Pine Tree.

(Dipper’s POV)

Oh god Mabel, what have you gotten me into. Bill looked like he was enjoying this far to much. It must be because I pissed him off and now I am a blushing mess. Oh god, I feel like I’m going to die already. Bill stood next to me before saying anything. 

“Dipper you’re more enchanting than the stars you are named after.” He started. Sounding as though he truly meant what he was saying. He really doesn’t mess around, does he? “I feel more honored to be in your presence than to have spent years as a King’s advisor.” I could feel my face heat up even more as Bill leaned in and gently grabbed my chin to make me face him. “I’ve never understood why I would feel weak in your presence or why now you can make my heart race. I think I understand now, It’s because I love you, Pine Tree.” I could feel myself shaking from the uncomfortable closeness. No, it really wasn’t that. It’s because of how sincere Bill sounded right now. Even though this was just a dare I couldn’t help but feel that he meant it. His facial expression was even fond. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. 

“OH MY GOSH!” 

“That was adorable!” 

“I wish a guy would say stuff like that too me.” Mabel and her friends began freaking out. Their screaming caught my attention, and I finally got around to pushing Bill away from me. His expression turned to a smirk, but I still remembered how he looked just a few moments ago. 

“Now time for round two!” Mabel shouted and we got into the formation we had been in before. She threw the rock and everyone started running into the forest. Even Bill seemed to be serious this time. I stood alone by the Shack and waited for the winner to get back with the rock. I just don’t understand why my sister would dare Bill; the demon that tried to end the world, to do something like that. And I truly don’t understand why I actually liked it. I had taken a seat on the ground as I waited, but it didn’t take long for the winner to return. 

“You better start writing your will.” Bill warned. He was the one with the rock. He was the winner, and I could tell he had plans for me. 

“You better not have cheated.” Mabel crossed her arms as she and the rest made it back.

“I promise you, I didn’t cheat.” Bill said sincerely. I bet he didn’t, he wouldn’t need to, he’s smart enough to have found another way to find it without using his powers. And the rock is really glittery and hard to miss.

“Well I pick dare!” Mabel stated proudly, as though taking a dare from Bill would be the most dangerous thing she has done.

“Do a handstand until the next round begins.” He quickly stated. She wasn’t the one he cared about. Mabel’s friends also picked dare. They both got simple and stupid dares, but now it was my turn. “So Pine Tree, what’ll it be? Truth or dare?” He looked too joyful. Either way I am dead. 

“Truth.” At least this way I won’t physically get hurt. 

“Are you really sure about that?” Bill whispered to me so no one else could hear. “Because I know things about you; that you would rather not let our company know.” He looked at Mabel as he was speaking. What could he be talking about? Oh no.

“You wouldn’t.” My eyes got wide and I started reconsidering my choice. Maybe physical pain would be better than this. 

“Oh, but I would, so, do you reconsider?”

“I choose dare.” I said loudly so everyone could hear me. 

“Go Dipper!” Mabel cheered, but while doing so fell from her handstand.

“You can stop now if you want Shooting Star. I think you’ll find Dipper’s dare pretty interesting.” Bill told her. “Well your dare is simple. All you have to do is wear this blindfold and trust me for ten minutes. I think you can do that. Unless of course you would rather go with truth.” 

“You better not hurt my brother.” My sister warned. 

“I won’t, I promised not to physically hurt any of you.” He responded nicely. I took the blindfold from him and put it on. I can’t see anything now. Where did he even find one? Well this is Bill I’m thinking about, he has a lot of weird things on him almost all of the time. After I had put the blindfold securely on, I was lifted off the ground.

“What are you doing?!” I shouted. Not knowing what was going on. I could hear the girls laughing.

“It would take too long with your short legs.” Bill told me, confirming he was the one carrying me. I could feel I was moving now. The distant voices of my sister and her friends told me we were heading away from them. I gritted my teeth. Part of this dare is to trust him, so I have to let him do what he wants. “You know you really shouldn’t have let Mabel win. I tried to help you win, but instead you just let her win.” Bill started ranting. He sounded calm, but his grip tightened so I knew he was angry. Oh god, he could kill me out here. Mabel isn’t around and no one else is either. I’m alone, blindfolded, and with Bill.

“You tripped my sister, of course I was going to let her win.” I responded. 

“She didn’t even get hurt. I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about it. Of course I would have to trip her so you could get ahold of the rock. Well we’re at our destination. I really hope you aren’t afraid of heights.” Bill finished and I threw off my blindfold to see where we were. I screamed as I noticed I was being held over the side of a cliff. Bill was the only thing keeping me from falling, and somehow I knew he wasn’t going to be holding on for long.

“Bill, let me go.” I shouted, but quickly realized my mistake. “Wai-”

“If you say so.” He let me drop. As he dropped me another scream escaped me.

This is how I die, by pissing off Bill in a game of truth or dare? I kept facing the sky not wanting to see how close I was getting to the ground. I quickly stopped screaming and just fell silently. The rushing of the wind was deafening. There were tears streaming down my face; I couldn’t tell if it was because of the wind or if I was just scared. The tops of trees came into my peripheral vision. I’m close to the ground, but before I could fall any further I felt pressure on my back and I started slowing down. The trees grew taller as I slowed down. I hit the ground gently, and was shaking too much to look at what just happened. I stared at the top of the cliff that looked to be miles up. That’s where I had began my fall.

“Now I feel better. Next time I help you you are going to do what I want you to, got it?” Bill said and leaned over me. I nodded in understanding. “Let’s get back to your sister. Her mind’s probably gone over all the things we could be doing. And I’m not talking about something like this.” He seemed to be bothered by the thought, and I was too. Mabel wouldn’t think of something like that. She may have just wanted to mess around with us before, but she was probably really worried about me.

“Why did you catch me?” I asked still on the ground. I felt emotionally and physically exhausted. 

“I promised not to hurt you physically. Though if you do something dumb like that again the promise isn’t going to stop me.” Bill pulled me off the ground. Then he wrapped an arm around me, and leaned in close to me. I have no idea why. I looked at him to try and understand him, but that would be like understanding the meaning of life. Then the world seem to flash for a second and the surrounding area changed. I looked ahead to find we were back at the edge of the cliff. “Just look at that view.” Bill joked as the world started to spin, and I lost my breakfast over the edge of the cliff. I so hope no one is at the bottom. “That’s disgusting.” He scrunched up his nose and began walking away. 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to walk back.” I said honestly. I still felt weak and could barely stand on my own. Falling from the top of the cliff isn’t something you just get over, and then to add salt to the wound, I think I’m afraid of heights now. Bill faced me and rolled his eyes. 

“Got it.” He said and put a hand on my shoulder. We appeared before the Mystery Shack, and the world started spinning again. This time nothing came out and I was left dry heaving.

“Dipper! What happened?” Mabel rushed over and pushed Bill away from me. 

“Seems he has problems with my way of travel.” Bill said. 

“Dipper, are you okay?” My sister was really worried about me.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” I tried standing up to keep Mabel from worrying anymore. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, but I think I’m done with playing truth or dare for today.” I shakily made my way to the attic. When I laid down on my bed I was welcomed with the smell of pine trees. Bill.


	7. Chapter 7

(Dipper’s POV)

It wasn’t long before I heard the cries of my sister and her friends as they dared each other to do the dumbest things. I had looked at the watch and it seemed as though Bill was on the other side of town, so I didn’t have to worry that the cries were of agony and not just embarrassment. What would Bill be doing there anyways? By his location on the watch he had to be in Gravity Falls, and if I remember correctly, in the arcade. With nothing better to do I decided to see what he was doing. Ford was heading to his room when I was leaving.

“Dipper, do you know where Bill is?” He asked concerned, but not the life or death kind of concerned.

“Yeah, he’s in town I was just going to see what he was doing.” I responded, and my uncle started walking away. “Wait, where is he going to be sleeping?” That hadn’t really crossed my mind before, but now it was getting dark out and Bill is probably going to need sleep soon. Especially considering that little nap of his was all he has had for days. Ford considered the thought. 

“I hadn’t thought about that, but that is something I should have considered before. I want you to keep an eye on him, but I can’t have him sleeping in the attic when your sister is there too.” He paused. “I guess Mabel could sleep in the livingroom for a few days until we get all packed to start searching for wherever it is Bill’s power has gone.” 

“What?” I would be sleeping alone with Bill in the attic. After what he just did today the idea wasn’t a welcomed one. He made it very clear that even if he promised not to hurt me that wouldn’t stop him from getting revenge in a different way. Should I tell Ford about what happened? I considered it for a moment, but quickly squashed the idea. If Bill got that mad at me just for letting Mabel win one game of truth or dare; he would skin me alive if I let Ford know anything about his dropping me off a cliff.

“Dipper, I told you I need you to watch him. I’m not just going to let him sleep in a separate room.” 

“But why me? Why not you or Stan?” 

“He knows more about me than you. He knows how to get to me and what my weaknesses are. With you he doesn’t really know you anymore. You’ve changed since that summer, and I know you can handle this.” Ford patted me quickly on the shoulder after his encouraging speech. He was right. I had changed a lot since that summer, and Bill wasn’t able to get into my head anymore. Maybe I can do this. 

It was a long walk to the arcade, but I found Bill just where the watch said he was. Though what he was doing was far more than just a little shocking. Was he flirting with Wendy? I couldn’t be too sure. All I could tell right now was that they were talking. Bill was smirking as he said something and Wendy started laughing. 

“You know I haven’t seen this place in years. I can’t believe they still have this game.” She pointed to the Fight Fighters game that we would play all the time before. Now that I thought about it Bill was even wearing different clothes. A lot nicer clothes than he had before. He must have done a lot in the free hour of his; however, Stan is going to kill him if he spends all of his money. I walked up to the two and cleared my throat.

“Oh Dipper,” Wendy said cheerfully as she noticed my presence. “Have you met William before? This guy is hilarious.” She pointed to Bill. What the hell does he think he is doing?

“Bill what are you doing?” I glared at him. He just started laughing.

“Well it was great talking to you Red, but it seems I have to go with Pine Tree now.” He emphasised his pet name for me. Wendy was looking back and forth between us before she seemed to realize what was going on.

“Oh my god, you’re that fucking triangle asshole aren’t you?” She backed away from Bill.

“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Bill decided to make a joke at the wrong time. Wendy didn’t hesitate to punch him in the face. She hit him with enough force to knock him down. 

“Eight out of ten. Your form was off.” Bill seemed to be rating her punch as he rubbed the side of his face she punched.

“Dipper what the hell is going on? I thought you got rid of this guy.” Wendy turned to face me. Luckily we were the only ones, other than the employees, here. And they seemed to be more interested in their phones than with the commotion.

“Long story.” I mumbled, not knowing where to start.

“Well hurry it up.” Wendy seemed pissed, and I wasn’t about ready to face one of her punches. 

“Bill somehow found a way to get into this dimension by becoming human, and that is why he’s like this.” I motioned to the mess, known as Bill, that was still lying on the floor. 

“And why the hell were you flirting with me, creep?” Wendy’s attention was back on Bill.

 

“Because I knew it would piss off Pine Tree.” All the attention was back on me. 

“Please tell me you don’t still have a crush on me.” Wendy pleaded.

“No. No. Not at all.” I tried clearing up, but Bill was laughing and it made things even more awkward. “Bill will you shut up.”

“Only if you can make me shut up.” Was his answer. 

“If you don’t shut up, I, will make you shut up.” Wendy threatened and he quieted down quickly. 

“So you’ll listen to her and not me?” I was getting more insulted the longer I was in his presence.

“Well unlike you, Red here could do some damage.” Bill finally got off the floor and brushed himself off. 

“Dipper, you are going to have to explain with a little more detail what happened.” Wendy seemed to have gotten over the shock that the guy she had been talking to for the last, I don’t know, (hour?) was actually the dream demon known as Bill. I went into more detail, but I didn’t have all the answers. That made me realize how little of this I actually understood. Bill wasn’t going to help me out in anyway, and made that clear as he would laugh every once in awhile when I would say something. Finally Wendy was happy with what I had told her and left. So I was back to being alone with Bill again.

“We are going to have to share the attic.” I mumbled more to myself, as a realization that hit. 

“What?” Bill looked excited with this new news. “We’re going to be roommates?” He said happily. I was quickly brought into a weird hug and was spun around quickly. 

“Bill le-” I couldn’t finish my sentence because the scenery around us changed and we were in the attic. And the afternoon snack I had covered the floor.

“Pine Tree, that’s filthy. Were you raised in a barn or something? Clean that up.” Bill’s taunting was more playful than serious. “I didn’t even vomit this many times when I started doing it.” He mumbled quietly. Instead of asking what he meant I got supplies to clean up the mess I made. Even though I should force Bill to clean it, saying he did do that when he knew it makes me sick. When I got done cleaning he had made himself comfortable on what used to be my sisters bed. Her stuff had already been taken out of the room. I groaned when I flopped on my bed and realized I was going to have to put up with Bill’s constant teasing all night. 

“How did you learn how to get here?” I decided to ask and hopefully kill some time.

“I’m sorry, but you need something to offer me before I will answer any of your stupid questions.” He said monotonly like one of those computerized messages you would sometimes get on your phone.

“Do you want to play truth or dare?” I decided to ask because he seemed to have been willing to answer my questions before when we played the game. He seemed to consider this for a moment.

“Sure, but if you back out for whatever reason I will drop you off that cliff again. Or think of something better. How do you feel about volcanos?” There was a dim light between Bill and I. As he turned to look at me the light only illuminated part of his face, making him look ominous. 

“I won’t back out.” I tried to sound tough. But who was I kidding? This was the worst idea I ever had. But if it gets Bill to talk, it’s better than nothing.

“Okay, since I already gave you the dare of a lifetime.” Bill paused to savor the memory. “You can start” 

“Truth or dare?” I asked. 

“Dare.” 

“I dare you to pick truth.” I responded. I need to ask him questions, not give him stupid dares. He rolled his eyes and sat up on his bed.

“If you keep doing that I am never going to play this game with you again, but fine. I’ll play along for right now.” 

“How were you able to figure out about this second way into this dimension?”

“Simple, I made a few deals, did a little research on this ghost town, and found an idiot dumb enough to play along.”

“What do you mean you ‘found an idiot to play along’?”

“You only get one question Pine Tree. Truth or dare?” 

“Truth.” I answered quickly to get this over with.

“What’s the passcode to get into the lab?” Bill asked without hesitation. Shit, I forgot I knew things like that. “Remember, you have to answer. Otherwise you will get to see a volcano close up. Really close up.”

“Shouldn’t you know it anyways?” I asked hoping I could keep it secret.

“Don’t play dumb Pine Tree. Ford changed it after what happened.” Right. He did and I know the new one.

“It’s B-2-C-3-5.” I answered, scared of why he would want to know that.

“Thanks a lot Pine Tree.” He, for whatever reason, got up. 

“Where are you going?” I jumped up in response.

“Going to see the result of my handy work, do you want to join me?” He said it as though I was going to be joining him in illegal activities. What had he done? I followed him as he walked downstairs, without fail we made it to Grunkle Stan’s room. The door was open and Stan seemed to have just entered his room. 

“Oh, hey Dipper.” Stan said cautiously as he tried his best to ignore how impatient Bill looked. What is he so worked up about? Stan started opening his closet and a smile spread across Bill’s face. What’s going to be in there? Something that might hurt Stan? A dead body? Neither. Coins seemed to be flowing from his closet.

“Thanks for the money, Stan. I made sure to pay back every cent.” Stan didn’t say anything to Bill. He just glared. There was a lot of things he probably wanted to say right then, but didn’t feel he should say it in front of me or just didn’t want to start anything. At least I’m not the only one he is going to annoy. That’s a good thing, right?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, for those of you reading, I will not be able to work on the story for the entire of next week! Trust me, this is going to hurt me way more than it will hurt you. It may be at least a week until I am able to update again. I am so sorry to tell you this, but please, enjoy this chapter.

(Dipper’s POV)

“Shall we get back to our game?” Bill asked happily before heading back to the attic.

“How did you know Stan was going to open the closet?” I didn’t understand how he could have known Stan was even in his room at the time.

“I heard him. He’s pretty loud.” He shrugged off my question. “I pick dare. You better come up with something fun.” Bill was hovering over me with a crazed smile.

“I dare you to look a gremloblin in the eyes.” I said without thinking about it. That was the worst dare I could think of at the moment.

“You do not disappoint Pine Tree.” I felt an arm wrap around me and prepared for what happened next. We went from being inside to in the dark forest. This time I was able to keep myself from losing what little I had left in my stomach. “Would you look at that, you’re improving.” Bill’s attention was quickly drawn to movement of something just out of my sight. That must be the gremloblin. Bill left my side to fulfill the dare. I couldn’t help but feel vulnerable; I don’t mean I need Bill to protect me or anything, it’s just that I don’t know where I am and don’t have a flashlight on me. That’s the only reason. I’m not scared either, just nervous. Soon after I lost track of Bill’s blonde hair; which seemed to have a glow to it, two figures came into my field of view. Bill, with his glowing hair, and the gremloblin. Even though he was human now he didn’t seem scared that he could possibly die or get hurt. He was staring down the gremloblin with a smile. Isn’t he supposed to be seeing his worse nightmare? Then the most horrifying thing happened. The gremloblin cried out and ran off. 

“W-what was that?” How could Bill have done that? He’s human, he has to have fears. What would make that gremloblin run off like that? The only time I have seen something like that happen was when I held a mirror up to one and it saw it’s own worst nightmare.

“That thing barely put up a fight. I need to find another one.” Bill didn’t seem satisfied and ran off. 

“Bill! Where are you going?!” I shouted after him. Now it’s official. I’m lost, and my only way back to the Shack just ran off to get himself killed. “Couldn’t you have taken me back to the Shack at least? I shouldn’t be forced out here to die because you have a death wish.” I kept mumbling to myself as I slowly inched my way closer to an opening in the trees. If I make it there I may be able to see better, and hopefully figure out where I am. 

“Pine Tree, I told you already. I won’t let you get hurt, I have too many plans for you.” I heard Bill’s voice, but when I looked around for him he was nowhere in sight. Shit, he better not be in my head. Him being in my dreams was bad enough. “Don’t worry, I hate being in your head as much as you hate it, but this way I can make sure you don’t get yourself killed.” 

“Me? Get myself killed? You’re the one chasing after a gremloblin for crying out loud.” I said out loud; not really worrying that someone might think I’m crazy for talking to myself. Anyone out here at this time of night is crazy anyways. 

“If I were you I would be watching where I am going more carefully. You might have a painful surprise soon if you don’t.” Bill’s voice warned me. I stopped and inspected the ground in front of me. A section of the ground looked off. I bent down to inspect it further. The foliage was purposely moved to cover something. When I moved it away a bear trap was revealed; a really big one at that. If I had stepped on it the teeth would have gone into my thigh. 

“Oh, um, thanks?” I didn’t know what I was supposed to say to Bill. He just saved me from getting a painful wakeup call. However I still don’t think he’s good in anyway. He’s just doing this because he has a plan, and I am a necessary part of it. Suddenly I had an idea so amazing I jumped from where I was crouched. If we keep this up I will be able to ask Bill what his plan is, and if I know what that plan is I will be able to come up with a plan to stop him. 

“Fucking cowards, all of them!” I heard Bill’s voice shout in my head. “We’re leaving. This was such a disappointment.” Bill grumbled in my ear as I felt him put his hands on my shoulders. I instantly broke out in goosebumps. He needs to learn that it’s not okay to pop up behind someone in a dark forest like that. 

“Wait! Don’t you dare do that thing again.” I jumped away from Bill before he could bring me back to the Shack with him. Even though I would love to be back there right now; my stomach felt like it was in the wrong spot, and I didn’t dare make things any worse for myself. A loud crack caused birds that had been sleeping in the nearby trees to fly away. That crack was followed by a piercing pain in my leg, and I swear I heard a snap. The bear trap. Everything happened so quickly that no sound had been able to escape me. Which was for the best saying that if I screamed now, who knows what could hear me. However, that didn’t stop tears from flowing from my eyes.

“What did I just tell you? The bear traps, Pine Tree, the bear traps.” Bill said in a strained voice. “I swear you are getting dumber the older you get.” He mumbled and put a hand to his head as though he was getting a headache.

“Just get me out of this thing.” I cried. My leg was quickly getting covered with blood.

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you.” Even though it was too dark for me to see him, I could hear the eye roll in his voice. “I can’t believe you did this, even after I warned you.” He wasn’t moving to help me. 

“Dammit Bill just shut up and do something.” Even in the darkness I could see his shock from my sudden change of attitude, but I don’t plan on being stuck in the trap much longer. 

“I really doubt I can do anything.” He told me. 

“What do you mean you can’t do anything? You’re able to pop up wherever you feel like it but you can’t get me out of this stupid bear trap?”

“Heh, it isn’t like my power is unlimited you know. I’ve only gotten to one of the twenty crystals, and all that popping up all over the place has used up most of my power. So if I get you out of that thing we won’t be able to make it back to the Shack tonight, or until I get enough rest.” For the first time I thought of how much all this movement must have taken out of him. That also made the way he was acting make more sense, he’s tired, I just thought he was acting that way because he couldn’t believe how stupid I am. “I don’t want to spend another night out here.” He sighed and broke the trap with a flash of light and pulled it out of my leg. 

“AH! Fuck!” I shouted as the metal was pulled from my leg. I don’t know what hurt more; getting stuck in the trap or getting out of it. I couldn’t move the leg that had been stuck in the trap. After the pain subsided from my leg I took notice that I was pressing myself against Bill to stay standing. “Um.” I couldn’t think of anything to say and backed away. Though I couldn’t let go of him. If I did I would fall. 

“Now, if you would please stay away from bear traps for the rest of the night that would be great. Thank you.” Bill said in the same tired tone as he set me down next to a tree. 

“I didn’t know you could run out of power.” 

“If you tell anyone about me helping you I will show you how it feels to break every bone in your body at once.” Bill warned. What was with his change in attitude all of a sudden? 

“What are you-” He had his hand hover over my leg. A searing pain went through my leg as I felt everything come together and heal itself. “Dammit, why didn’t you warn me?”

“I’ve already helped you too much today. I’m getting physically sick just thinking about it, so that little bit of pain helps me feel better.” Bill laid down next to me and fell asleep instantly. 

“You did also throw me off a cliff. Don’t you remember that?”

“Yeah, that was nice too.” He responded sleepily, only waking up to respond. I couldn’t stop this strange warm feeling that was forming in my chest. Bill really did help me today, and he looks adorable when he’s sleeping. Dipper, stop this train of thought this instant. I scolded myself. There is nothing good that could come out of it.

(Bill’s POV)

Now that I think about it the scare Stan and Sixer are going to get might just be worth this. Neither I nor Pine Tree will be back before they wake up. Even if we spent the whole night walking there was no way we would make it back in time. Tomorrow is going to be fun. I made sure to face away from Pine Tree so he would think I was sleeping. There was more than one reason I picked this spot. Another crystal was close by, and I just needed to wait for him to fall asleep before retrieving it. The only reason I came back before getting it was because I just knew Pine Tree would be dumb enough to get himself hurt, but I wasn’t even able to stop that from happening so I might as well get something good out of this. 

“Hey Pine Tree.” I whispered and waved a hand in front of his face. When he didn’t move I started quietly making my way away from where he was sleeping. I didn’t lie when I told him I was out of power at the moment, so that means this was going to take a little while. With all of the stuff he’s done today he should be out for at least an hour, I’ve learned that sleep really was a need, and taken note not to miss more than one nights sleep at a time.

I had made it back to the clearing I had sensed the crystal in before. As to be expected the place looked ‘magical’. Just not in the fairy tale kind of way humans would always think about. I don’t know how they can stand such boring tales. As I made my way to the center of the clearing I saw a few gnomes that had turned to cannibalism. Two gnomes were surrounding the ripped open body of the third; both tearing away pieces of flesh and pulling out organs to munch on. Now that’s more like it. I stopped to take in my surroundings. A few of the plants were moving strangely. When I took closer notice I saw a shrunken deer getting pulled away. Another good touch, but where is that crystal? I finally spotted it inside the plant that had just eaten that miniaturized deer. 

“I’m happy I stopped by the kitchen.” I said as I pulled out the knife I had picked up from the Pines’ kitchen, for different uses, but this still works. While the plant was busy with the deer I was able to make it right to the center without any problems. When I started cutting into it the plant seemed to recognize the danger and vines started hitting me. That didn’t faze me, it was going to have to do better than that. I was almost to the crystal when one of the vines wrapped around me and flung me across the clearing. If I still had any amount of power I would have fried that thing by now. Instead I did what I could and ran back to the spot where the knife was still lodged. Dodging the vines aimed at me as I got close again. Just one last cut and I should be able to reach the crystal. When that power isn’t under my control it really can be a hassle. 

(Dipper’s POV)

“Hmm” I woke up, there didn’t seem to be a reason for it before the pain in my leg was processed by my tired brain. Didn’t Bill heal it? Why does it still hurt? Wait, talking about that freak, where is he? He isn’t next to me, and I couldn’t see him. “Bill?” I waited for an answer which never came. “Ugh, Bill, where the hell did you go?” 

After inspecting my leg and not finding any problems I got up. The pain could have just been a phantom pain from the recent injury I had gotten. I tested my leg, it was still sore, but I can walk. Then I checked my watch; which showed me that Bill was almost a full mile away, however he was still within the range of the watch. What is he doing? I thought he needed to get some sleep so we would be able to make it back to the Shack in the morning. Well, the only way to get answers is to find him and get him to talk. 

It took me longer than I hoped it would to get to Bill, and when I did find him I was too perplexed by what was going on around him to really pay attention to what he was doing. The whole clearing he was in seemed to be in utter chaos. There was a spot where some gnomes were ripping each other apart. Another where fairies, which I had only seen momentarily before, were going to all out war with each other. Using weapons and hand to hand combat. I swore I saw one of them rip the others head off with its bare hands. What is going on here? Then I focused back on Bill. He was ripping into a carnivorous plant that was flailing in pain. His new clothes had rips in them from vines that were whipping all around the plant. I have never seen a plant move like that. I checked both ways to make sure I wouldn’t catch the attention of any of the blood thirsty creatures before running into the clearing to reach Bill. 

“Bill, what is going on?” I shouted when I finally got within earshot. That’s when I saw it. A yellow glowing crystal. So that is what Bill was doing, he planned on waiting for me to go to sleep so he could take the crystals power. 

“Pine Tree?” Bill seemed surprised to see me, but not as surprised as when I took the crystal from him. As if I was going to let him get anymore powerful. A flash of light blinded me for only a moment, but within that moment the plant that had been protecting itself against Bill had stopped moving, and the other creatures had stopped their attacks. When I looked back at the crystal it wasn’t glowing anymore. What just happened? I looked to see if I might figure it out by Bill’s reaction. He looked like a mix between furious and proud. 

“What just happened?” I dropped the crystal that had been in my hand. It was obviously useless now. Did what I just think happen really happen? Bill just kept looking at me with that same look on his face. Then suddenly, just like that flash of light, he began laughing. 

“This is priceless! I Didn’t know you would be dumb enough to touch one of the crystals! This is why I like you kid, you’re not that bright. Not at all.” Bill was shaking his head while smiling widely. 

“You touched the crystal before me, shouldn’t you have gotten the power instead?” I tried to reason.

“No, I was smart and used a piece of cloth to hold onto it.” Bill held up a small part of his sleeve that had been ripped off to cover the crystal. “In fact, I was going to show your family what to be looking for with that crystal instead of taking its power, but I find this far more interesting. So, show me what you’ve got.” 

“I-I,” What am I supposed to do? Didn’t great uncle Ford warn me that if any human got ahold of some of this power it would corrupt them? “How do I get it out?” Was the only thing I could think to ask. There has to be a way.

“Aw, you really are no fun Pine Tree. Don’t you feel any different?” Bill seemed to be loving this. 

“No I do not. Now help me get your power out of me.” I ordered him, but he just looked at me smugly. 

“Don’t you think you should tell your family about this before doing anything drastic?” 

“Stop trying to change the subject. You know how to get this power out of me so just tell me what to do.” Now that I think about it. I am feeling different. Almost as though there is electricity flowing through my veins. That can’t be a good sign.

“Well, getting that power out requires my cooperation. But at the moment I don’t feel like helping you. After all I’ve already helped you two times today. Don’t you think you should help me before I help you again?” 

“If you want to make a deal get on with it.” I said monotonically. The feeling of electricity never leaving and only adding to my concern. That could just be an adrenaline rush, but I doubted it.

“Geesh, impatient, but I don’t want to make a deal with you. You have nothing to offer me. Now, if you would, take us back to the Mystery Shack.” Bill said with a sly smile. 

“I don’t even know how to do that!” Nor did I feel like doing it myself. It was one thing getting a ride from someone who had done this for years, but I am completely new to this. What if I pop up in a wall or something? Would that kill me? 

“Just think of the place you want to go to and concentrate on it. Also you’ll have to be touching me to take me with you.” Bill winked at me. I grumbled to myself before touching the back of his hand. Now, all I have to do is think of the Mystery Shack and concentrate on it? I started picturing the gift shop, then I realized I should focus on the attic so no one would notice we had been gone. I was about to try the concentration part when I felt Bill’s hand grab my own. 

“What the hell?!” I shouted and jumped away from him. He just gave me an obviously fake sad face. 

“I was hoping you would have already been taking us there. It would have been hilarious to see where we would end up.” Bill finally let out the laugh he had been holding in. Maybe I should just leave him here? “You wouldn’t.” He looked at me seriously. Still in my head? “Yep.” Well maybe I could get into your head now that I’ve got some power now. Wait, that would be the perfect plan. I would know all of his thoughts. “Oh Pine Tree, you would regret it the second you tried. I’ve seen things that would drive you insane.” 

“Somehow I don’t doubt that. Now if you don’t want to be left out here just stand still and don’t try anything. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah. Got it captain buzz kill.” Bill mumbled as I put my hand on the back of his hand again. Now, concentrate on the attic. Focus, Dipper, focus. Finally I felt the electricity seem to flow out of my body and around me. How long am I going to have to keep focusing on the attic? The area around me still hadn’t changed. Am I doing this right? As in response to my worrying the forest around me seemed to begin moving past me. As though I was running at unbelievable speeds. Is this what it had always been like to Bill? No wonder he does this all the time. You feel free, and disconnected from the world. I was too busy with it all to notice Bill make a quick movement, all I noticed was his face in front of mine, and I felt his lips against mine. I jumped in surprise, completely forgetting about the Mystery Shack and the attic. I pushed Bill away, and everything seemed to stop moving. 

“What was that?” I shouted, my voice strained. All I got in a response was a whistle. Bill was inspecting our new surroundings. 

“This is interesting. I wonder why we would end up here. I thought we might have ended up around Red since she was the last person you really had feelings for. But I have to say this is place is nice.” I was perplexed by everything. Why did Bill go so far as to kiss me to just make me mess up? Then I started to take in our surroundings. Oh, that was a mistake. It was a lot brighter up here, and by up here, I mean we were on top of a mountain. I have no idea where, but all I knew was that it was either the ground moving or me. 

“Oh no.” I whispered as I hit the ground. My newly acquired fear of heights kicking in.


	9. Chapter 9

(Dipper’s POV)

“Oh now I get it, you must have thought of when I threw you off a cliff.” Bill didn’t see me fall to the ground. Everything looks like it’s moving. I covered my eyes, but that didn’t stop my heart from racing and the dizziness to continue. Dipper, you need to calm down. You’ve got magical power or whatever now. If you fall you won’t get hurt or maybe you can’t fall. I’m not going to try that. All I have to do is envision the Mystery Shack and concentrate on that. That’s a lot easier said than done when I’m thousands of feet up. “Hey Pine Tree, are you okay?” I heard Bill asked, but refused to take my hands away from my face. I feel like I’m going to get sick, again!

“Bill what the hell? Why did we end up here? Out of all the places we could have ended up, why here?”

“Well, you see, I messed up your concentration and this was the first thought you had after I messed with you.” Bill said, trying his best not to actually say what he did. 

“And why the hell did you kiss me?” This wasn’t a good time to talk about it, but I kind of wanted to know.

“I don’t really understand the purpose of ‘kissing’ but I guess it’s supposed to be a big thing for you humans. It was just the first thing that came to mind. I only had a fraction of a second to react.” He responded. I realized that my shaking had slowed. Maybe if I keep myself distracted long enough I will be able to concentrate and get out of here. I decided to think of a way to keep the conversation going. My hands were still covering my eyes. No way am I going to risk the progress I’ve already made. 

“So that was the first thing you could think of. Not very creative.” 

“I achieved what I was going for, so I consider it a win. Are you ever going to move your hands from your face?”

“I don't plan on it.” I told him sternly, hoping he would understand not to mess with me at the moment. I'm still trying to concentrate on the Shack. It seemed that it was slowly working. I just need to keep from thinking about where I am.

“Come on, the view is pretty nice up here.” Bill said and I could feel him pulling on my wrists. 

“Bill back off.” I pushed both of my hands away from me hoping to hit Bill. I didn't open my eyes for the short time I planned on removing my hands, but something I didn't plan for happened. Bill caught my wrists and held my hands to my sides. I had no choice but to open my eyes. I realized there was snow up here, and it was whirling around us. Some of the snow had gotten stuck in Bill’s hair, thankfully all I could see was him and I could stay oblivious to the descent only feet away from us. How am I not freezing right now? It has to be below freezing at least with all of this snow, and considering how high up we are it might as well be below zero.

“See it's not that bad up here.” Bill said with a smile. It quickly changed from a reassuring smile to a smirk. He moved out of my field of vision and I was able to see the the mountain range before us, cloudy with the falling snow. I started getting dizzy again and moved to cover my eyes but Bill held onto my wrists tightly. 

“Can you not be a jerk for one minute?” I shouted as I struggled to cover my eyes, and kept them closed for as long as I could. However, sooner or later I was going to open my eyes and Bill knew that. 

“Pine Tree, you're not going to fall. The edge has to be at least five feet from us.” Bill faked trying to calm me, I knew he was enjoying every second of this. “I didn't mean for you to get a whole phobia when I dropped you off the cliff, all I wanted to do was scare you. You humans are too frail.” He mumbled to himself. Slowly I could feel my breathing slow and the dizziness started to fade. I'm not going to fall, this time I'm already on the ground and Bill isn't pissed. I opened my eyes out of curiosity, and surprisingly the world didn’t feel like it was spinning anymore. Even though the Earth is always spinning at about 460 meters per second.

“I think I'm only scared because you are here. It's not the heights, it's you.” I decided to poke some fun at the overconfident Bill. I kept looking out at the surrounding area, it really is a nice view. This isn’t the conventional way of getting someone over a phobia, but I guess it worked this time.

“At least you have reason to fear me.” I turned to face Bill. He wasn't looking at me. Instead he had laid down next to me and was looking at the sky with his hands behind his head. I just now realized he had let go of my wrists. What is he looking at? I tried looking up, but the dizziness returned. Okay, maybe I should wait a little while longer before trying to do that.

“Or maybe not. You've only got the power of one crystal, right?” I suddenly thought. He turned to me and nodded. “Well so do I. We have equal power now.” 

“At least I know how to use my power.” He snickered.

“If you hadn't messed with me we would be back at the Shack by now. Instead we're up here, wherever here is.” Then a sound made me jump. My phone was ringing. I had forgotten I had it on me. 

“Shit, Pine Tree!” Bill shouted in surprise. 

“Horrible language.” I said disapprovingly before answering my phone. It was Ford. 

“Dipper what happened? The alarm on my device started going off and it says you are in Wyoming.” Oh so that's where we are. We must be in a part of the Rocky Mountains.

“Um, it's kind of a long story. We’ll be back soon. I'll explain to you then?” Ford was starting to lecture me, but I didn't feel in the mood to tell him everything that happened right now so I hung up on him. 

“Did you just hang up on Sixer?” I heard Bill seem genuinely surprised.

“Yeah, we’ve got to get back to the Shack.” I said half heartedly. This place was really comforting now that I've gotten over my fear. I really didn't want to leave.

“Sounds like you don't want to yet?” 

“No, when do you think you will be able to take us back to the Shack?” I asked hoping that I could use him as an excuse for staying here longer.

“Hmm, in an hour or so. Why? Don't you feel like having a go at it again?” 

“I'd rather stay here a little longer. Tell me when we will leave.” I said before closing my eyes. This has really been a long day, and I still haven't gotten more than a couple hours of sleep. I feel I deserve some undisturbed sleep.

(Bill’s POV)

It seems as though the power inside him is already changing him. Pine Tree would never hang up on Sixer, let alone disregard his order to get back to the Shack. Maybe he's not as special as I thought, but at least this isn’t going to hurt anything. With his actions the last time we had met I thought he might be strong willed enough to resist the corruption, that would have made things more interesting. It's kind of a let down, but it's one I can deal with. 

After about an hour I woke him up, half thought about holding him over the edge before waking him up. Though that probably wouldn’t be the best way to wake him, considering he just got over his short lived fear of heights. So instead I made a giant snowball and shoved it down his shirt.

“What the-” He woke up quickly. “When I told you to wake me up this is not what I meant!” Pine Tree jumped up and started shaking the snow out of his shirt. 

“It’s time to go back to the Shack.” I said and locked arms with him, who was still trying to get the snow out of his shirt. We appeared in the Shack before he was able to get all of the snow out and he ended up dumping some of it on the floor. The living room was full of people. Sixer looked like he was preparing for a war. All because we were an hour late? Talk about over reacting. 

“Finally you two make it back. Dipper, what happened?” All attention was on me, and most of the looks I was getting weren’t good ones. I’m already used to that.

“Whoa, what’s going on here? I was only gone an hour. I wanted to be able to relax for a little while, and Bill couldn’t have brought me back sooner anyways. His power has a limit to it, and he hit that limit so we were kind of stuck.” Pine Tree completely left out the part that he was the reason we were stuck on a snowy mountain. All because he didn’t feel like heading back. Is he going to keep it a secret? It was hard holding back a knowing smirk. 

“You never told me any of that. For all I knew Bill could have killed you.” Sixer glared at me, and I gave him a ‘what are you gonna do about it?’ look right back. 

“Dipper!” Shooting Star seemed eager to join the conversation. She happily hugged her brother. “What happened while you were gone?” She asked desperately. Everyone seemed to think Pine Tree was dead. Did they really think that is what my plan is? Just to kill them? It’s so much better watching them suffer through the thing they call life, and kind of helping the suffering along.

“Um, I kind of need to talk to Ford about that.” 

“PineTreetouchedacrystal.” I muttered and faked a cough afterwards. No one seemed to understand what I just said except for Pine Tree who elbowed me. “Aw, as soft as a kitten.” I teased him. 

“Well I caught Bill trying to go after another crystal,” Dipper accused me. Though that was honestly not my intention, not going to deny it didn’t cross my mind however. “But I stopped him and touched the crystal. I didn’t know that was how the power was transferred and I now have some of Bill’s power in me.” He said evenly. Mabel and Pacifica gasped; has blondy been here the entire time? Stan looked about ready to punch something; that’s what he’s best at. 

“I can’t believe this.” Sixer finally muttered. He knew as well as I what was going to have to happen to keep Pine Tree from becoming, somewhat, like me. No one could ever be as great as me. He started pacing back and forth. Shooting Star was asking rapid fire questions to Pine Tree. “Bill, you know what needs to be done.” Sixer finally told me. 

“Yeah, I know, but do you really want that to happen? I mean it would cause little Pine Tree here a lot of pain.” I smiled. “And you also know this requires my cooperation. I’m not going to help you for nothing Sixer.” 

“What does he mean by ‘a lot of pain’?” Pine Tree asked concerned. 

“He’s going to have to extract the power from you, and this needs to be done quickly. The longer the power is in you the more it will hurt.” 

“Or if it’s in you long enough I won’t be able to get it out, but by then you will have forgotten who you are and would have already done some things you would rather forget.” I added, watching as Pine Trees face changed to fear. 

“How bad is it going to hurt?” He asked quietly.

“Ah, not bad. Just like getting your appendix removed while fully awake.” I told him. His eyes widened and I couldn’t help but smile. “But you don’t have to worry about it. I don’t think Sixer really has anything to give me that is worth helping you.” 

“What do you want?” He asked me. 

“Oh, you know, unlimited power, control over your dimension.” I listed off with little interest. Those things aren’t my priority right now. “But you know I think getting this leash removed will be good enough for me.” I pointed to the watch.

“No.” He responded instantly.

“Come on, there’s no trust.” I scoffed. Then I started thinking about this. It would help me for Pine Tree to keep the power and slowly become more like me, but it would also be fun to watch him be in pain. Well I guess the short term will have to be good enough for me.

“What’s up with you?” Pine Tree asked me. I had been staring at him while I thought, it wasn’t intentional however.

“I’m just thinking what you are worth to your family.” What could I get from them that I want? Not a lot, I don’t want anything from the Pines family. However, there is no way I will ever just help the Pines family without it seeming suspicious, and hurting my pride. Oh, this could be good. “Then I’ve got an idea. Since it would take forever if we got the crystals your way, how about I get them back. And I could take Pine Tree with me so you can feel better about all of this. And you know, you don’t worry that I will just get my power back and start the apocalypse all over again.” This might be worth while. Pine Tree is my priority right now, and the more time I get around him the better.

“That’s too risky. That would require trusting that you don’t take the power for yourself or that Dipper will be strong enough to stop you.”

“Don’t you trust the little guy?” I defended Pine Tree. 

“Why would you want me to go with you?” Pine Tree asked, seeming to have trouble understanding why I find him so interesting.

“Simple, you're the most fun to mess with.” I told him. It was partially true, but there was still more to it.

“You aren’t going to be alone with Dipper ever again. I’ll make sure of it!” Shooting Star shouted. I wasn’t expecting it and jumped. Sixer seemed to think about this.

“This might work. You’ll take both Mabel and Dipper.” Sixer offered. 

“Sure, I’ll take it.” We shook hands and then I picked up Pine Tree. 

(Dipper’s POV)

“What are you doing?” I shouted as Bill picked me up. 

“I’m going to remove that little bit of my power you have in you.” He responded with a sadistic smile. 

“Does this really need to happen?” I shouted to Ford. Bill was taking me to the living room, but then suddenly stopped.

“I’m sorry Dipper.” Ford gave me a sad look. 

“Could I use the old lab?” Bill asked looking over his shoulder to Ford. “That way you won’t have to hear his screams.” With that I started trying to get out of his grasp, but quickly stopped myself. I have to do this or risk ending up like him. It couldn’t be much worse than that bear trap I had just been stuck in.

“I’ll come with you then.” Ford said and punched in the code to start heading down. I was as nervous as someone going into surgery, except this time my doctor is a sadistic demon, now human. 

We made it down to the old lab. Bill took in the surroundings with a frown. Probably because all of his pictures have been covered. 

“What happened? This place used to be nice.” He mumbled. I could feel his arms start to let me go, but before he could drop me Ford cleared his throat. Reminding Bill that he was here. “Fine.” He rolled his eyes and set me down. “You ready?” Bill asked me with a smirk. The nervousness building up with his smile. Whenever Bill smiles something bad is going to happen. 

“No, but go for it anyways.” I told him. I closed my eyes and waited for him to start doing whatever it was he was going to have to do. However, I wasn’t able to keep my eyes closed for long. When I opened my eyes it looked as though Bill was thinking of something. 

“What’s wrong?” Ford finally said. Bill looked at him and smirked before looking back at me. 

“I wonder how Sixer feels about guys kissing.” Bill said quiet enough for only me to hear. 

“Wha-” I wasn’t able to finish the one word sentence before I felt Bill’s lips crash against mine, again. After his lips touched mine I started feeling my body start to tingle, then it turned into heat, then it felt as though my blood was fire; all the while Bill was kissing me. His lips are really soft. That was the only thing I could think while my body felt like I was being burnt alive.

“What are you doing?” I heard a muffled voice say. That was probably Ford. Just when I thought the pain couldn’t get worse it felt like all the fire that was in my body started making its way to my mouth, it felt as though it was being ripped from my body. I let out a muffled scream, and tried pushing Bill away. It was only natural for someone to want to stop pain. Bill put his hands on the back of my head, keeping me from moving away, or maybe just to deepen the kiss. I couldn’t really tell and didn’t really care. 

“You should calm down and just enjoy it Pine Tree.” I heard Bill’s voice and laugh, but he couldn’t be talking. Then I thought back to how soft his lips are, and somehow I ended up kissing him back. Through all this pain I was able to ease it by focusing on the kiss. If it didn’t feel like my organs were being ripped out this would have been pretty nice. The pain started subsiding, and I could feel that most of the power had already left my body. Finally the pain went away all together, but the kissing didn’t stop there. The only thing that made us stop was Ford’s yelling. 

“What the hell are you doing? I know this isn’t how it’s supposed to be done so don’t try to pull any of that on me.” Ford said sternly. Bill parted from the kiss to look at him. 

“No, I just saw an opportunity and took it.” He said. I tried to get up to find that I had no energy left the most I could manage was sitting up. Ford grumbled some things before leaving the room. 

“I think I’m starting to realize the attraction of kissing.” Bill whispered to me. What does that mean? Does he mean that he likes kissing me? Or does he just think that kissing in general is nice? So many thoughts on what he could have meant started going through my head that I gave myself a headache. Does, does Bill actually like me? That would explain why he keeps trying to be around me, but why would he? I helped try to kill him.

“B-Bill, do you-” I wasn’t able to finish my sentence. My body was too exhausted to even speak. My eyes closed, and I wasn’t able to open them again. I was only conscious long enough to feel my head hit the floor.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, basically I hate myself right now. I have started two other Billdip fan fics and this one on top of the countless (6) other fan fics I have been writing for months, and just today I wrote almost twelve pages! What is wrong with me? So I am basically overloading myself at the moment. Don't worry this won't affect the updates badly (So far) I just needed a little vent time. And maybe I time in a corner without Billdip for an hour, but I think I'd go through withdrawals.

(Dipper’s POV)

 

I woke up to hear someone yelling. I couldn’t tell where I was, and still wasn’t able to open my eyes but I could hear a conversation.

“What the hell was that? I can’t believe I thought it would be okay to trust you to do even the simplest of tasks. You could have killed Dipper!” That was my uncle Ford yelling, most likely at Bill. 

“I was making sure that I got all of the power out of him.” I heard Bill scoff, not really trying to fight. He just sounded bored. I wonder how long they have been bickering back and forth.

“If anything happens to Dipper or Mabel while they are with you I swear I will make sure you’re dead this time.” Ford said before leaving the room. That’s when I decided it was safe to open my eyes. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Bill’s face. 

“AH!” I shouted in surprise, but it only lasted a second. Then I noticed something was off. Bill was floating over top of me. Is that how much power only two crystals give him? “What are you doing?” I asked as I slipped off my bed and onto the attic floor, making sure that I didn’t touch him.

“Your sister is too busy making out with her girlfriend to do anything fun.” He responded. 

“Girlfriend? Making out?” What is he talking about?

“Yeah, that blondy is still here. I swear she never leaves.” He paused and gave me a serious look. “There is no way she’s going with us.” He said sternly. “I already have to take care of you two brats.” Bill said and rolled his eyes, sounding frustrated.

“You don’t have to take care of us. We take care of ourselves.” He burst out laughing. 

“Oh yes, because you would have been able to get yourself out of that bear trap or Shooting Star would have been able to get herself out of the clothes dryer.” When did Mabel get herself stuck in a clothes dryer. Bill must have noticed my confusion. “She takes hide and seek to another level.” That sounds like my sister. 

“You’re the one who came up with that idea.” I shrugged. He did offer to just bring Mabel and I with him to find the crystals.

“Doesn’t mean I like it.” He mumbled. “Do you have anything fun to do?” Bill asked me. His face was very close to mine as he was floating in the middle of the room.

“I just woke up, Bill.” I told him. 

“You’re no help.” He said and dropped to the floor with a thud. I was laughing before I could stop myself. What’s up with him? He’s being too playful. “You’re cruel Pine Tree, laughing at my suffering like that.” 

“That’s not suffering. You’re just bored.” 

“It’s suffering.” His head was against the ground, so his voice was muffled. 

“Have you had anything to eat yet?” I decided to ask. I had just gotten up, and had no idea what time it was, but I was definitely hungry. 

“Mabel got me some cereal.” Bill put his chin on the wooden floor and looked up at me. “That doesn’t mean I am not hungry though.” He smiled and stood up. 

“Do you even know how to cook?” I asked. He was supposed to be all knowing, but he doesn’t seem to understand a lot of simple things so I just wanted to check.

“I was a multidimensional being of pure energy, I’ve never needed to know how to cook.” He responded. 

“I’ll take that as a no then.” I made my way to the kitchen while Bill followed. The kitchen and the dining room were really the same room, so the first thing Bill did was flop on the table and watched me from there. I don’t even remember the last time that table was cleaned, and he’s laying on it. “You probably don’t want to be doing that.” I informed him. As I was pulling the eggs out of the fridge I had a flash of the events last night. Bill kissing me, and what he said after that. I dropped the carton of eggs as I realized what I still needed to ask him. Am I going to be brave enough to do it though?

“You just wasted some perfectly good food.” Bill sounded like I’d just dishonored his whole family, if he has one. 

“S-sorry.” I responded and slowly turned to him. Calm down Dipper, all you have to do is ask that stupid question and get it over with. But it wasn’t something simple. It might have been when I was so tired I couldn’t think properly, but now I realize how stupid of a question it is. If I ask him that question he could use it to remind me of the stupid idea I got in my head and keep the embarrassment going long after I’ve gotten the answer to the question. He would do something like that. 

“What’s gotten into you?” He asked bored. Probably still mad I wasted our breakfast.

“Um, you remember what you said last night?” 

“Actually, it was two days ago. You were out for a long time.” He rolled onto his back, falling off of the table. “But yes, I know what you are talking about.” He smirked as he stood up off the ground. Is this really how Bill acts normally? 

“Well, I was wondering what you meant by that.” I hinted at the actual question I wanted to ask.

“Well~” He dragged it out and leaned closer to me. “I meant I liked kissing you.” He whispered. I took a quick breath in and choked on the air. Bill then proceeded to laugh like a hyena. “You’re so fun to mess with!” He said once he finally stopped laughing. 

“What?” Does that mean what he said wasn’t true? Somehow I felt a little disappointed. I wasn’t going to take the feeling too seriously though. It was probably just because it hinted at that I wasn’t that good of a kisser. 

“I only said that to see what your reaction would be.”

“Are you bothering my brother?” Mabel shouted as she entered the room. Pacifica was right behind her. Bill wasn’t lying when he said Pacifica was still here. Why is she here? I didn’t really hate her anymore, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t bothered by her being at the Mystery Shack. 

“Yes, he is.” I responded quickly and crossed my arms. Trying to give him the angriest glare I could manage.

“Did that hurt you?” Bill leaned in and asked me quietly. He looked pleased with himself. 

“No, it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s just more proof that you really are a compulsive liar.” I responded. 

“What did he do?” Mabel walked up to me to make sure I was okay. She quickly turned around to watch Bill.

“He didn’t do anything.” I told her. I never realized she would actually take it seriously. 

“Good, but be sure to tell me if he does anything to you.” Mabel told me. Pacifica stood in a far corner of the room looking out of place. 

“I really don’t need your protection.” I told her. It was weird seeing Mabel getting so defensive. 

“Dipper, I need to talk to you.” She dragged me out of the room. Pacifica went to follow, but Mabel asked her to wait in the kitchen. 

“What’s up with you?” I asked concerned. It isn’t like my sister to act like this.

“Well at first I thought it wouldn’t be a problem to have Bill around, but now I’m not too sure. Yes, he doesn’t have as much power as he had before, but he still is messing with you. I think you two have been spending too much time together. It’s starting to make me nervous. He seems to be following you, and somehow always wants to be with you. It’s strange and makes me feel, I don’t know, scared.” My sister told me. I had realized Bill was trying to be around me as much as possible, but I knew his tricks already so there was no need for her to worry. 

“Mabel, I’m fine.” I put a hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her.

“But a few days ago you weren’t. You and Bill were alone together for one night and you touched a crystal. If Bill refused to help you you could be on a downward spiral right now, but since he did he also got the power from that crystal! He’s been floating all over the place! He’s going to get all of his power back if we can’t find a way to handle this without relying on him so much.” My sister had a point. 

“But we can’t find the crystals without him. And you haven’t seen what that power does to the things around it. I have, and trust me we need him.” The memory of the cannibalistic gnomes and fighting fairies gave me the chills. To think that there are eighteen more places in the world that are like that.

“Of course we need him to find the crystals, but maybe we can come up with a different way to get ahold of them. I mean we are the mystery twins!” Mabel laughed softly. I relented. She had a good argument, and the only other plan I had been thinking of relied heavily on Bill. Maybe I do need to think of a different way to handle this.

“Okay, I’ll think of something.” I told her and walked back to the kitchen. Bill was standing on the ceiling, not too much of a surprise; while Pacifica yelled at him to stop making footprints on the ceiling. 

“You are making a mess! You should at least try to treat them with a little more respect considering they haven’t killed you already, and on top of that they are letting you live in the Mystery Shack.” Pacifica shouted, but Bill didn’t listen. 

“Bill, just listen to her. I’d rather not have to deal with all the shouting.” I calmly told him. My head was already starting to hurt from thinking so much. Okay, so we do need Bill to find the spot that the crystal is in, but we need to get something to put the crystals in. And have tools to get to the crystal, that way Mabel and I will be the only ones retrieving the crystals, with gloves. Can’t make direct contact with the crystals. 

“So, what’s for breakfast, chef Dipper.” Bill joked. It seemed that someone had cleaned the egg carton off the floor already. 

“Hey, Pacifica, I had a lot of fun hanging out with you.” My sister started talking to Pacifica. “Thank you so much for coming over when you heard that Dipper was missing. We are going to be leaving soon, with Bill,” Mabel paused. Why is she going into such a poetic goodbye? It’s just going to be a week or maybe even less saying Bill can take us to the exact spot of the crystal in an instant. “we should be back quickly though.” She smiled. 

“Are you sure you are going to be okay, saying ‘he’ is going to be there?” The two were talking as though Bill wasn’t in the same room. 

“Of course, Dipper and I can handle him. He’s not that big of a threat.” Mabel stuck her tongue out at Bill, and he returned the gesture. Childish, the both of them.

“So childish.” I mumbled. 

“So Pine Tree, what’s it going to be?” Bill snuck up behind me and almost made me drop the orange juice. 

“Dammit, Bill.” Just when I thought things couldn’t get weirder I felt him wrap his arms around me. “What are you doing?” 

“You’re really warm, and I would like the heat.” Bill replied. That’s when his hands went under my shirt and I jumped. He’s freezing. 

“Did you sleep in a freezer?” I shouted and pushed myself away from him. Mabel and Pacifica stopped their farewell to watch what was happening carefully. 

“No, I’m just a cold person.” Bill smirked at his joke.

“We know.” I responded and looked around for the pancake mix next. It was the last thing I got because I knew it was the highest up, and I didn’t want anyone to see me struggling to get it. However, Mabel, Pacifica and Bill were still in the room.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get it.” Bill whispered to me. Dammit Bill! I thought you said you didn’t like being in the head. “Well, it gets a little addicting.” He said out loud without remorse. 

“What’s addicting?” Pacifica asked.

“Meth!” Mabel shouted playfully and pulled her out of the room. Probably to secretly listen in on our conversation. 

“Could you please, for both of our sake, stay out of my head?” I asked him. Somehow he knew exactly where the pancake mix was located. 

“No, I’m learning so much about you.” Bill placed the pancake mix in front of me. “Like how bad you are at coming up with plans. There’s so many different ways you could pick up the crystals without relying so much on me, but you refuse to see them.” He backed away and sat on the table. 

“Then do you care to explain them to me?” 

“No.” He answered quickly. What could he have meant by that? We do need him to take us to where the crystals are. He’s the only one that knows where they are located, so we need him for that. The only other thing would be picking up the crystals; which Mabel and I could do easily, and carefully. I’ve already thought of a few ideas for that. Which I plan on talking to Ford about later. 

Making pancakes took almost an hour because Bill would continue to throw them and see if they would stick to the ceiling. Somehow Mabel joined in and it turned into a competition of who can get more pancakes on the ceiling.

“Would you two please stop that? I’m trying to make my breakfast.” I complained after Bill picked up a just finished pancake off the pan. He had to have burned himself, but he didn’t seem to mind. 

“I will not let your sister beat me.” He mumbled to me. So far Mabel was two stuck pancakes ahead of him. Even if that one did stick to the ceiling he wouldn’t be able to beat her. 

“Please just let me make my breakfast in peace. You can make all the pancakes you want once I’m done.” 

“Actually this competition is over.” Bill said and threw the pancake towards the ceiling. It managed to hit two closely together pancakes that were stuck to the ceiling, knocking them both down, yet somehow staying stuck to the ceiling. The two pancakes were the ones Mabel had thrown, so she officially lost.

“That’s cheating!” She shouted.

“When did we decided that it was against the rules to knock the other person's pancakes down?” Bill smirked, knowing he didn’t play fair, not that he would really care. 

“I demand a rematch!” Mabel shouted and threw a pancake at Bill’s face. He dodged it, but I wasn’t so lucky. I was standing right behind him and the dirty pancake hit me right in the face. Everyone burst out in laughter, except me. I still haven’t gotten something to eat, and it feels like my stomach is starting to eat itself. Even Pacifica was failing to hold back a laugh. 

“Seriously?” I said as I pulled the sticky pancake off my face. What was on that? I don’t think I want to find out. 

“Don’t worry Pine Tree, I’ve got a plan.” Bill said with a smile. “All of you can clean and I get food.” He clapped his hands and disappeared before anyone could argue.

“Hey! We all need to clean!” Mabel shouted at him, but he can’t hear her. 

“You did lose.” I shrugged.


	11. Chapter 11

(Dipper’s POV)

I helped with the cleaning of the kitchen; even though it wasn’t my mess. Bill had been gone for almost half an hour. He’s probably just avoiding getting back before we are done. The only thing left to clean now was the floor for Mabel and the counter tops for me. Cleaning the ceiling was the hardest, so it was the first thing we did. I didn’t realize how big of a mess I had made while I was making the pancakes. 

“Is it just me or does Bill seem different? I mean I’ve notice this before, but I was just thinking it was the situation. Now I’m not so sure.” Mabel said once she was done cleaning.

“What do you mean?” Though I think I knew what she was talking about. There was something different about him, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it is. 

“He just seems nicer. I mean, he’s still an ass, but not as homicidal and destructive, I guess is what I mean.” I chuckled, that’s one way of putting it. 

“You’re right, but it might have something to do with him not having as much power as he did before.” I offered as an explanation. Then I thought of something. If the power could corrupt anyone who gains it; does that also apply to Bill? Will he get worse the more power he has? That’s not something I plan on ever testing however. 

“Or maybe it’s because he’s human?” Pacifica offered. She had been quiet for the whole time we were cleaning, so her interruption surprised us. 

“Could be.” I nodded. 

“I sense the conversation has taken an interesting turn. Please continue to talk about me, it’s my favorite subject.” Bill appeared with a paper bag in hand. He threw it at me carelessly. I was barely able to catch it. Unfortunately I caught the bottom of the bag and the contents spilled out onto the floor. Thankfully whatever it was was in a container. Pancakes? Was this supposed to be a kind gesture or was he just messing with me? “Aren’t you hungry?” He asked when he noticed I was just staring at him. 

“Yeah, thanks.” I said skeptically and picked up the plastic container that had the pancakes in it. 

“Aww how sweet.” Mabel cooed. Bill glared at her. 

“I will burn your sweaters.” He warned. That didn’t help, it only made her angry. 

“Good luck.” I whispered to him as Mabel began her tirade. Not wanting to take part in the lecture I left the room to eat in peace. Just when I sat down in the livingroom to eat great uncle Ford entered the room. 

“Dipper, we need to talk.” There goes eating in peace. 

“What is it?” I asked. Why can’t I get a second to myself now? 

“Are you feeling okay?” I was surprised by his concern. 

“Yeah, I guess I am a little stressed by the situation.” I answered honestly. Trying to understand Bill was extremely stressful considering he is so sarcastic, and I have no idea if he means what he is saying or just messing with me.

“Take some advice from someone who has known that demon longer than you, you cannot understand him. I know you like to think of someone as predictable, but Bill isn’t like that.” I never thought of myself in that way, but now that Ford put it into words; that’s kind of how I am. I feel comfortable around those I am able to understand and predict, and knowing that they aren’t going to change. However, Bill is anything but predictable.

“Okay, also do you have any gloves? And maybe a bag?” Those items are part of my plan for carrying the crystals around. Though I still need to come up with something that will stop the crystal’s power from causing chaos. 

“I think I know what you are getting at, and I’ve got some things you might want.” Ford nodded and walked away. Leaving me alone so I could finally eat my pancakes in peace. Now that I’m thinking about it. Where did Bill get these pancakes? They aren’t from anywhere in Gravity Falls, but the watches were supposed to alarm if we got over a mile away from each other. When I checked my wrist there was nothing there. What happened to the watch? Lots of things must have happened in the two days I was asleep. 

I finished my pancakes; which were actually pretty good, in all honesty they were amazing, but halfway through eating them I realized that it was Bill that had given them to me. For all I know he could have done something to them. He would be low enough to do something stupid like that.

“Here is where we could keep the crystals. It’s a vacuum and should keep the magic from affecting the surrounding area.” Ford set a medium metal box down in front of me. It looked somewhat like a microwave, and really heavy. “But until you bring the crystals back you should keep them in this bag. It’s been altered, so it should keep the magic from leaking for a short amount of time. And there are also these gloves.-” Ford continued his list, but I zoned out. So we’ve got a place to put the crystals, a bag to carry them in, gloves. . . and weapons? Why would we need weapons? I was just going to use Bill for that. 

“Oh, thanks.” I finally interrupted Ford’s speech on how to properly use a laser gun. “But I don’t think we are going to be needing all of these weapons.” 

“You don’t know what you will be running into. The crystals do weird things to the objects around them.” 

“Yeah, I know, I’ve seen it. But I just feel that all of that” I motioned towards the pile of knives, guns, and other weapons created by my great uncle. “is a little much.” Nor do I trust Mabel with a gun. “Maybe we could just use these.” I picked up a few knives, in case we needed them for close combat; which I hoped we didn’t, and smaller dart guns. At least this way I don’t have to worry about getting shot with an actual bullet.

“Are you sure?” Ford asked me skeptically.

“Of course.” I responded, how bad could things get? “Also, what happened to the watches?” I asked, remembering the missing watch. Ford looked at me confused for a moment.

“Oh yes, you were asleep when we decided that. Considering that the watches could easily be taken off I decided to instead implant Bill with a tracking device. That way I know where he is all of the time, and it can’t be easily tricked.” Ford told me. “It took a lot of work to trick him into letting me put it in him.” Did Bill really agree to that? I mean I would never have agreed to anything like that. Even if it was my great uncle Ford doing it. “Also, you are going to be leaving tomorrow to find the third crystal.” Ford informed me.

“What?” So soon? I haven’t had time to get prepared at all. 

“Don’t worry I packed everything you should need. Well except for the things I am showing you now.” 

“Thanks.” I said awkwardly. I feel that I really have missed out on a lot of things those two days I was unconscious. 

“I’ll be packing and double checking everything is in your bags if you need anything.” Ford said and carried the things out of the room. 

“Okay.” I mumbled. Noticing that no one was here I took the opportunity to sneak up into the attic for some alone time. When I laid back down on my bed it again smelled of pine trees. Why Bill? Though I quickly got used to the smell, at least it wasn’t a bad smell after all. A loud crash echoed as the attic door slammed open and ruined my peaceful moment. 

“Pine Tree, drink your coffee and let’s get moving!” Bill shouted. What is he talking about? 

“C’m on Dipper. There’s this really cool place Bill found!” Mabel said excitedly. When did they start being friendly? 

“It’s really not that great.” I heard Pacifica’s snobby voice say.

“Stop trying to act all cool, Pacifica, you know you thought it was great.” Mabel responded. Even though everyone was begging me to get up I stayed where I was.

“We have a lot to do tomorrow, so can’t you just let me relax?”

“You can relax when we get there.” Bill surprisingly threw me over his shoulder and began carrying me out of the Shack. I tried wiggling out of his grasp, but he wouldn’t let me go.

“What are you doing?” I shouted startled. Maybe I should just get used to this already, I’ve never been able to get out of his grip before.

“Well since you seem so tired I am forcing you to go the only other way I could. Well, I could use my power just to teleport you there, but it doesn’t seem to agree with you that much. And it would be a waste to let that food I gave you go to waste.” 

“That’s what you are concerned about?” I asked, not really surprised by him.

“Of course. I didn’t go searching for the best pancakes I could find in the state for nothing.” Bill said proudly. 

“Where are you taking me anyways?”

“Dipper you are going to love it! It’s perfect!” Mabel cheered. Why is she so excited? “And right now is the perfect time to go there.” She added matter of factly. “Don’t ask anymore questions on the subject. No one is ruining the surprise for you.” Mabel added after I opened my mouth to ask just what she was telling me not to.

“Fine.” I gave in. No use fighting it when both Mabel and Bill are keen on keeping it from me. They are the most stubborn people I know; okay, Bill is a demon, but he still counts. Eventually I dozed off as Bill carried me through the forest. Which probably wasn’t the best thing considering what happened the last time I trusted him to carry me through the woods, but I was exhausted, and this time Mabel is here to. If she notices anything is wrong she will let me know.

“We’re here!” Mabel shouted in my ear. Causing me to slide off Bill’s shoulder and hit the ground. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust from being in the dim lighted forest for so long. Somehow I had missed the sound of rushing water. We were right next to a waterfall. It was a far drop and I was happy I had gotten over my fear of heights. 

“Wait!” I shouted as Mabel jumped into the river just before the waterfall.

“Don’t worry Pine Tree.” Bill waved it off. Ignoring him, I ran over to see if she was okay. Somehow she was staying on the edge of the waterfall without falling over. 

“Awesome, isn’t it? Bill told me about this.” Mabel sat at the edge of the waterfall without any difficulty. 

“You’re welcome Shooting Star.” Somehow Bill was behind me again and I jumped. “Hmm, do you think it would hurt if I jumped into the water below?” He asked as though thinking how worthwhile it would be.

“Yes, so you should do it.” I answered evenly. hoping to annoy him with my comment basically telling him to go hurt himself, but then I remembered he likes pain. So he jumped, and I watched as he fell. There was a big splash as he hit the water. I hope that didn’t hurt, but who am I trying to fool? Of course it would hurt.

“Dipper, Pacifica, you should join me! This is really fun, and you don’t have to worry about falling over. As long as you don’t mess around.” Mabel said cheerfully. 

“I don’t have a swimsuit or anything.” I shrugged. Someone should have informed me on that part if they wanted me to go swimming.

“No problem, I’ve got you Pine Tree.” Bill appeared behind me again, causing me to jump. Again. 

 

“BILL STOP DOING THAT!” I shouted. The next thing I knew I was suddenly fully aware of the wind. “Bill.” I looked at myself and found that my clothes I was wearing before were nowhere to be found, and all I had on was brightly colored swim trunks.

“You can thank me later.” Bill said with a smirk before jumping into the water farther away from the drop off. Slowly, I got into the cold water where Mabel had got in earlier. I felt myself slip, and I was under the water before I realized what was going on. In surprise I gasped but all that filled my lungs was water.

“Dipper, are you okay?” Mabel forced out while laughing. I coughed a few times, getting out at least a little bit of the water that had filled my lungs. 

“Yeah. What’s so great about this place?” I asked, noticing that even though the scenery was great; this wasn’t as impressive as they made it sound.

“Which way is this waterfall facing?” Bill asked as he made his way to the edge of the waterfall. Probably planning on going over the edge again. 

“Um, the west. Why?” I didn’t know what that question had anything to do with it. 

“And how did you know?” 

“What are you trying to get at?” 

“The sunset silly! This is the perfect place to be!” Mabel said cheerfully. Now that I thought about it she was right. This is a nice place to be, but I couldn’t really enjoy it as much as her considering the circumstances we are in. Tomorrow we are going to have to deal with the chaos from another crystal, and there are seventeen more places like that. On top of that someone could find one of them, and then Bill is going to have to do that weird thing he did with me with that person too.

“You’re right.” However, I was going to pretend to have fun for my sister. She had probably done all of this to try and make me feel better. Unfortunately, the only thing making me feel better was Bill continually throwing himself off the edge of this waterfall.

Pacifica, Mabel and I all were chatting and watched as the sunset; Bill was nowhere to be found, again. No one was really worried about it. Finally, once the sun was below the horizon we all decided it was time to get back to the Shack. Today was very tiring, and I knew that tomorrow wasn’t going to be any better, but at least at this moment while we are back at the Shack I can at least relax even if it's only for a little while.


	12. Chapter 12

(Dipper’s POV)

Grunkle Stan woke me up early so we could all talk about Bill. I wasn’t very sure on what he meant by that; there were too many topics to cover, but I followed him without question. A very groggy Mabel and Ford were waiting for us in the living room. It was already eight in the morning, but it was summer and no one should be up this early during summer. Bill wasn’t here at the moment so my great uncles thought it would be the right time to tell us something. It must be important because I could tell Ford was anxious to begin the family meeting.

“I just want to tell you that I’m sure you will do fine, but I wanted to talk to both of you before you left. I wish I could go, but a deal’s a deal.” Ford started a speech he had probably planned last night. 

“Could you get to the point?” Stan asked impatiently. Both of them seemed on edge this morning.

“Alright, alright. I want you to keep a very close eye on Bill while you’re away. I’m sure you have noticed this, but Bill has been acting weird and that is never a good thing. He’s always got some hidden plan up his sleeve, so be very careful. Tell me if he does anything out of character.”

“You noticed too?” Mabel sounded surprised through her tired state. 

“Of course we noticed. We have been keeping track of Bill since we caught him.” Stan answered. 

“Just be very careful, and don’t hesitate to call us if anything happens.” Ford said. Mabel and I both nodded in understanding. Our family meeting was quickly interrupted with a new presence in the living room.

“Ready to go?” Bill appeared just as Ford finished talking. Was he able to hear what we were saying? Or was he gone just long enough to have no idea that we were talking about? I had a feeling it was probably the first option. Bill always seemed to hear everything that concerned him.

“I still need to get dressed.” Everyone turned to me and noticed for the first time that I wasn’t dressed yet. I didn’t get time to change when Stan had gotten me up. 

“Well could you hurry up because I have a bad feeling about one of the crystals.” Bill looked like a raccoon. Is he sleeping? It is Bill, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t been.

“What do you mean?” Ford and Stan asked in unison and with the same level of concerned. It was quite funny to see them like that; it was like seeing double.

“I think someone has gotten a hold of one of the crystals. The energy keeps moving around.” Bill explained; too tired to be as unnerved by the idea as us or maybe he just didn’t care as much. Ford started bombarding Bill with questions, and I took the opportunity to run upstairs and change. When I got back everyone looked more on edge than before. This day just keeps getting better.

“Change of plans; you three are going to be gone for a few days to find whoever it is that took the crystal and retrieve the power from them.” Ford informed me. 

“A few days? Is it really going to take us that long?” Mabel asked.

“Unless you just want to kidnap the person and hold them down as I take the power from them, then yes.” Bill answered her question. That was not an option. 

“Then how are we going to convince them to do this?” I went through it and that was only because it would be better that way, and I really didn’t want to end up becoming someone I am not. Though for someone who isn’t as informed in this kind of thing as I am, they might find the new power too much to pass up.

“It’s what I do best Pine Tree.” Bill gave me a smug smile. 

“We aren’t going to let you handle this alone. Wait,” I turned towards Ford. “does this mean that Bill is going to have the power from three crystals?” He’s already more powerful than I expected him to be after two crystals. What is three going to be like? Let alone twenty. I don't even want to think of what would happen then.

“It’s something we can’t avoid at the moment. It’s why getting all the crystals as soon as possible is so important.” Ford said defeated.

“So let’s not waste anymore time.” Bill said and waited for me to get close enough to him that he could reach me. Once I was standing next to him he set a hand on my head, and did the same to Mabel. “Don’t worry I’ll take very good care of the kids.” Bill winked at Ford before the room started moving. 

At first I thought Bill was messing around with us. We were in front of a casino. Mabel and I aren’t even allowed in there! Then it started making sense. If you found out that you were able to do things that most people can’t, wouldn’t this be the first place someone would go? 

“What are we supposed to do?” I asked Bill. He stood there looking at the flashing lights with a smile. 

“I like this meatbag’s style.” He said before walking into the building; ignoring my question. 

“What are we supposed to do? We aren’t allowed in there!” Mabel whispered to me. 

“What are you waiting for? Come on!” Bill shouted to us. He does realize what that place is, right? Shouldn’t he know fifteen year olds are not allowed in there. “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of it.” Bill winked and started dragging both of us into the building. 

When we got inside no one seemed to care. Maybe kids are allowed in here, just not certain places? I doubted that. This wasn’t a place for kids to be; even though I like to think that I am mature for my age. 

“How are we not getting into trouble?” Mabel asked. She noticed how no one seemed to even see us. 

“It’s simple really, you don’t look your age.” Bill answered as we passed by a row of windows where we could see our reflections. We both looked to be in our twenties. “Though making you invisible would use less power in a short period of time; this is a lot more efficient considering it’s probably going to take us a while to find our victim, I mean person.” 

“I thought you knew where they were?” I questioned. Shouldn’t he be able to find them easily? I thought he had that natural tracking instinct or whatever it would be called. 

“Do you see all these people?” He opened his arms to display the hundreds of people walking around us. Some of them were stumbling, and I don’t think it was because they were clumsy. “I can get us in the relative area, but I can’t tell who has the power until they trip up, and that is what we are going to get them to do. Now you two do whatever you want; just keep a lookout for anyone that seems suspicious.” Bill said and waved us off. 

“Wait, what are you going to do?” 

“I’m going to be looking for the idiot of course. We will cover more ground, and look less suspicious ourselves, if we split up.” Bill said before vanishing into the crowd of people.

“But how are we going to contact you if we find them.” I mumbled and crossed my arms. I doubt he’s going to be looking very hard. 

“Don’t worry Pine Tree. I’ve always got my eye on you.” Bill’s voice echoed in my head giving me goosebumps.

“Well, I guess he’s right. You’ve got your phone on you, right?” Mabel finally spoke up.

“Yeah.” 

“Call me if you need me.” She said before walking off. 

I didn’t know where to go, but I started wondering around looking for someone that looked off. It felt weird being here, and I didn’t know what the people were doing most places. There were card games going on and other ones that seemed more complicated than they should be. I was walking while watching a game going on when I ran into a woman. 

“Sorry.” I apologized. The woman I ran into had shiny dark hair and was over all beautiful. Good thing I’ve gotten over my awkward stage, and I can talk to girls without much problem at all. Though I’m guessing that may have something to do with my newly learned preference. 

“Don’t worry about it.” She said with a smile. Then she held out her hand. “I’m Jessa by the way.” I shook her hand.

“Dipper.” I told her my name. 

“That’s an unusual name.” 

“It’s kind of a nickname that stuck.” I explained with a shrug. 

“And how did you get that kind of nickname?” She kept the same smile. Somehow I just felt comfortable with her. 

“It’s because of this birthmark I have.” I moved my bangs back and showed her the birthmark that most times I wouldn’t show anyone. 

“Well I’ll be. That’s the strangest birthmark I have seen yet, and I’ve seen quite a few. I work as a nurse.” Somehow I didn’t feel self conscious when she said that it was weird. It felt more like a compliment coming from her.

(Mabel’s POV)

I was walking around looking for anyone that looked to be using magic; except for Bill, who was currently cheating at one of the tables. That wasn’t much a surprise for me, but he should know better than to use his power so obviously in a place like this. It could get him kicked out. Not that that would bother him much; he’d probably just find another way in. 

“What are you doing?” I asked angrily when I walked up behind him.

“I’m looking for our person.” He said with a smug smile. “Where’s Pine Tree? I thought for sure he would start lecturing me before you.” 

“I don’t know where he is.” I told him. He did tell us to split up, so that’s what we did. 

“Really? I thought for sure you two wouldn’t leave each other’s side. I guess I was wrong about you two.” Bill said with little interest. I rolled my eyes and left; might as well go and find Dipper now and see if he has found anything. 

While I was walking around; even though I would like to say I didn’t get distracted, I kind of did get distracted. This one man looked more beautiful than a unicorn; though do to my past experiences I hate unicorns, but that’s not the point. So even though it’s against my own good I decided to talk to him.

(Bill’s POV)

It had to have been at least an hour, yet neither Shooting Star nor Pine Tree had said anything or even thought anything about the person they should be looking for. To save myself from hearing things I really wish I didn’t, I put somewhat of a filter on their thoughts so I would know if they are in danger or if they found the person, and didn’t have to deal with the embarrassing thoughts. 

“Well it looks like I have to go look for my friends.” 

“Finally.” A man said. I had been winning almost all the games; you’ve got to lose a game every once in awhile. If I kept playing I probably would have been kicked out just for winning so much. None of these meatbags would be able to spot my tricks. 

“Now where did those two go?” I whispered to myself as I started weaving through the crowd. Shooting Star was the first I found. She was talking to some guy, and had obviously forgotten about looking for her brother. Should I let her be? Or should I ruin her conversation with the guy she’s attracted too? Let’s go with option number two. “How’s it going Shooting Star? Find your brother yet?” 

“What? O-oh, no not yet. I was hoping he would pass by sometime.” She tried to act as though she hadn’t gotten sidetracked by some random guy she met that was way too old for her. 

“Well we should start trying to find him.”

“I was trying to find him.” Shooting Star defended herself.

“Anyway, I’ll get Pine Tree.” I turned to walk away when I got a strange feeling. There’s someone here; someone that shouldn’t be here.


	13. Chapter 13

(Bill’s POV)

 

I turned back to where Mabel was talking to that guy; while not really a guy. I did some snooping to make sure I shouldn't be worried for her and it turns out that he is actually a she; with a slight gambling addiction. He's come to the right place. 

“Hey Mabel.” I waited for her to turn around before throwing a key at her. She’ll be fine, but I need to find Pine Tree.

(Dipper’s POV)

 

Jessa and I have been talking for what only felt like a few minutes but when I looked at the time it had been longer than I thought. She’s really great to be around, and I almost forgot all about looking for anyone that seemed out of place. I was able to stay at least a little focused on that as well.

“There are just too many stories to tell about the emergency room.” Jessa laughed. “Like this one time a guy came in because he got a bottle super glued to his hand, can you believe that? And it wasn’t even a stupid teenager; it was as fully grown man!” I started laughing too. She had an unbelievable amount of hilarious stories, but it wasn’t really the stories she told that were funny but the way she told them. “Are you looking for someone?” She questioned seriously. 

“Why do you ask?” I was startled by the quick change in the topic.

“You keep looking around the room as though you are looking for someone.” She clarified.

“Well, I was just looking for a friend. We split up when we got here.” It wasn’t completely a lie, but I wasn’t looking for a friend. 

“Are you looking for Cipher?” I thought I heard her mumble.

“What?” I felt my skin crawl. How does she know Bill?

“I asked, what does your friend look like?” She said louder. Maybe that was just my mind playing tricks on me. I have been known to be a little paranoid.

“I think he was wearing a blue shirt.” I honestly don’t know anyone that is wearing a blue shirt. 

“Well that’s very descriptive.” Jessa said with a giggle. Abruptly Jessa’s happy attitude changed. “Maybe we should go someplace quieter?” She offered. I noticed that she was more tense now. 

“Sure.” I said without second guessing. Though after I said it I started thinking that wasn’t the best thing to say. 

“Follow me.” She said and started leading me off the casino floor. I was scolding myself for following her, but I felt like I didn't have a choice. Something was drawing me to follow her. “Now we'll just have to wait.” She said after she led me to behind the building. 

“Why are we here?” I asked. This looked like the spot where someone would get mugged. 

“I need to have a little chat with Cipher.” Well there's no mistaking she was mentioning Bill now.

“How do you know Bill?” Jessa wasn't able to answer before a sword, or at least a glowing object that looked like a sword, was drove through her and blood splatter covered my face. 

“Nice to see you too.” She said between coughs. 

“What are you doing here?” I now noticed Bill was the one behind her, the one that stabbed her. 

“Bill what are you doing? You can't just stab someone, you'll kill them.” 

“Not when they're not human.” He answered. 

“What do you mean?” 

“And you told me this kid was bright.” Jessa let out a harsh laugh. “I'm an old friend of Bill’s, I just thought I would warn you someone may or may not have broken into your house and-”

“Wait, you have a house?” I asked Bill, shocked. Both of them looked at me like I was stupid. Which was quiet weird considering Jessa still had a sword through her stomach and Bill was still holding onto it.

“You broke into my house, didn't you? And that's how you got here.” 

“Well yes-” Bill yanked the sword out and hit her through her chest. Covering my face in another layer of blood that I wiped off immediately. “but that's not the problem. I lost the papers-” 

“You did what?” Bill hissed. 

“It's not my fault this whole dimension traveling business is hard.” 

“Why didn't you memorize it?” 

“Heh, like I would waste time on that.” 

“Pine Tree, I think we are going to need a minute to sort things out. Why don't you go find your sister?” Bill offered.

“And leave you alone with another demon? Never.” 

“Kid, I'm trying to save you from seeing something that will scar you.” Bill said evenly.

“What? What are you going to do to me?” Jessa began to panic. “This is what I get for warning you?!” I didn't make a move to leave, so Bill stopped his waiting.

“Fine, but it's your own fault if you get mentally scared. And Joe, I'm not going to kill you.” 

“Joe?” Who's he talking about?

“Jessa, I'm assuming that's the name you gave him, isn’t actually a ‘girl’. Though for demons gender is a little different from how you meatbags see it.”

“Heh, it's not a crime to want to look pretty sometimes.” Was his defense. How could I have not noticed any of this? I should have been able to tell there was something wrong with Jessa. I should have been able to tell she-he I don't know what pronoun to use, was actually a demon. I just got fooled a second time by a demon. While I was scolding myself I was sprayed in another fresh coating of blood. When I snapped back to reality Joe’s head had been ripped off. My body went cold. You could see the white bone sticking out of the body that used to attach his head to his body. 

“You call this not killing him?” I managed to say before I had to turn around. 

“Well, I'm not dead, but I'm not back home. That's for sure.” I heard a voice in my head. I gave Bill a questioning look. 

“I said I wasn’t going to kill him, anyways it would be more of a pain if I did. Instead I forced his energy from the body and kind of absorbed it in a way. He’s stuck inside my head now. Until I can shove his ass back into the nightmare realm.” Bill explained. I understood most of it, but my attention was still on the decapitated body. Maybe I should have listened to Bill this one time. While I was staring at the body I could see Bill approach me in my peripheral vision. “You should stop looking at that.” He whispered in my ear and covered my eyes with his hands. Even with my sight cut off I could feel my body being moved to another place; where is Bill taking me? I wasn’t able to worry too much about that because when we reached wherever it was he was taking me I collapsed. My body had been working on adrenaline for only a few moments, but I still could tell when the rush stopped.

“What happened?” I heard Mabel’s voice. Bill just decapitated someone in front of me; nothing major. 

“I’ll explain, just give me a second.” Was his response. What was he going to tell Mabel? I wasn’t much use at the moment. My entire body felt numb and tired. Bill set me down on something soft, I’m guessing it was a bed but my mind couldn’t process anything clearly yet. All I could think about was all the blood, and how white that bone was; who knew bones were so white? “Comforting humans isn’t really my thing, but for you I’ll make an exception.” Bill said while he made a book appear, and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. “You should look through this.” He gave me the book. He was gone before I could ask him what it was about or yell at him for kissing me. When I opened the first page I was surprised to find that it was full of pictures, that were moving. I realized after going through a few pages they were all of my happiest memories. A quick smile flashed across my face. Why did Bill do this for me? 

“I remember this, why did this make it here?” One of the little memories was when Mabel and I were fighting the gnomes, as Mabel shot the one gnome out of the leaf blower that tumbled the tower of gnomes, I couldn’t help but laugh. That summer really was something special; that is, until Bill showed up. I was about to turn the page when the book started to become transparent and then vanished. 

“Bill! What is going on?” I hear Mabel shout. I ran out of the room Bill had placed me in as quickly as I could. He was passed out on the floor when I entered the room. Mabel was looking at him nervously.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I don’t know he was talking then the next thing I know he’s on the ground.” Mabel explained, throwing her hands in the air. I was heading over towards where Bill was lying on the ground when I started feeling weak. 

~ ~ ~

 

“Here, you can have him back.” I heard a familiar voice say. I couldn’t see anything, and it was cramped. What is going on? Suddenly, I realized that familiar voice was Bill. It took a while before anything else happened.

“Heyo~” I heard someone sing as it was suddenly bright. When my eyes adjusted I was looking at two demons. Quickly, I moved as far away from them as my small space would allow me. “What’s wrong? Don’t like the way I look now?” 

“Jessa? I mean, Joe?” I questioned.

“You can just call me Jessa.” The demon responded. “Now to get you out of that cramped box, and don’t worry about Bill finding out about this little conversation. He’s completely out. When you’ve lost most of your power even the littlest task can be draining.” 

“What are you even doing with him anyways?” The other demon, who had been silent until now, asked. 

“He’s a good friend of mine, and of course I needed to see the human he’s been going on and on about.” 

“So this is ‘Pine Tree’?” The other demon asked; looking unimpressed.

“Yes it is! Isn’t he adorable!?!” Jessa picked me up and started spinning me around. I realized now that we were in the mindscape, so I pictured myself away from Jessa and I was able to get out of her grasp. “Well I see you aren’t a total loss. I thought you were completely clueless considering how things were at the casino. Of course Bill would never fall for anyone stupid. He’s always liked the clever ones.” 

“We shouldn’t be getting into this.” The other demon warned. 

“You know how dense Bill can be. I need to help him out in every way I can.” Jessa responded and put her nose in the air, and by nose I mean a weird looking circle thing that was in the middle of her face. 

“Help him out with what?” I asked. Jessa faced me with the widest grin. It sent shivers down my spine. 

“We shouldn’t be getting involved in this!” The other demon, now fed up with the conversation, started dragging Jessa away. “You wouldn’t like it if someone started messing around with your love life, so knock it off.” ‘Love life’? I started getting this weird feeling in my stomach. It felt a little bit like dread, but with something mixed in, something like excitement. Maybe I misunderstood what they were saying? But how could I? The conversation was kind of obvious. What would I have to do with Bill’s love life though? Do demons even know what love is? That shell of dread filled with the flame of excitement didn’t leave me, even when I woke up. 

~ ~ ~

“Dipper!! What happened? I didn’t know what to do! Both of you just kind of fainted, so I called Ford. He said he’s on his way right now.” Mabel was clearly shaken up. 

“Don’t worry, today has just been too eventful for me, and as for Bill; I think he used a little bit too much of his power today. He needs the rest.” I comforted Mabel. She calmed down quickly.

“Should I call back Ford and tell him it’s nothing?” Mabel asked me.

“No need, I can do that. You should relax, you seemed to need it more than me right now.” My gaze slowly drifted to the blonde currently passed out on the floor next to me. He seemed to be giving off a slight glow. “What should we do about Bill?” I couldn’t just leave him laying there, could I?

“He’ll wake up when he wants to move.” Mabel waved it off. Yeah, maybe just letting him sleep there would be the best option. I mean how would Mabel and I be able to move him. Maybe we could drag him? Heh, Mabel and I dragging the ‘oh-so-powerful’ Bill Cipher.

“Well I’ll call Ford and tell him it was a false alarm.” I smiled at my sister. She walked away after that. For a second, telling Ford about what happened with the other demon crossed my mind, but if I did that I might let something slip. Like how I think those demons could have been hinting at that Bill likes me, like in a way I am not so sure how I feel about. If Ford heard that, all hell would break lose; even if it wasn’t serious.


	14. Chapter 14

(Bill’s POV)

I was surprised when I was forced into the mindscape, but of course that would happen. Joe had kind of a stalker he liked to call his ‘lover’. Thankfully he was able to take him from me. Now for him losing the papers with the spell on it; that is the bigger problem right now. I doubt that most meatsacks would be able to read it, but that didn’t ease my mind. Somehow I am going to have to ditch the Pines for a while to find those papers.

~ ~ ~

 

For a while, I blacked out. I used to much power too quickly. By the time I got up I had already came up with a plan; I’m going to leave for a little while to find the papers and give Shooting Star and Pine Tree instructions on how to trap the power from the crystal inside the person to keep them from doing anything too crazy until I get back. They are smart enough to handle that, right? 

(Dipper’s POV)

I was more than slightly surprised to find Bill gone in the morning. All that was left was a note that made no sense to me. All of the letters were jumbled up as though this was supposed to be some kind of game or something. Why does he always have to make everything more complicated than it needs to be?

It took me almost two hours to decode the whole note. It explained why he was going to be gone for a long time, and what we were supposed to do while he was gone. I had no idea what to do. Should I call Ford and Stan? They would want to know about this. It goes against what we had planned, and Bill didn’t even inform us of this before he left. I was unbelievably frustrated at the moment; I was trying to deal with the conversation I had yesterday with the other demon, and on top of that now Mabel and I are supposed to get to the person that took the crystal ourselves!

“Mabel?” I started looking for my sister. She wasn’t sleeping in her separate room. I have never seen a hotel room like this before, but I already knew I loved it. Most of the time a hotel room was just one room but here everyone got their own room! It felt more like an apartment to me. The next place I looked for here was by the television, and as I thought, she fell asleep watching it. “Hey Mabel, we need to talk.” I gently shook my sister awake. 

“About what?” She asked sleepily. “Can’t it wait?”

“Bill’s gone.” That woke her up. 

“What do you mean he’s gone?” She shouted. 

“He left; he was nice enough to leave a note however.” I showed her my translation of the note. She scanned it quickly. 

“Should we call Ford?” Mabel asked once she was done reading it. I wanted to say yes, but something was stopping me.

“Maybe we should wait and see? Bill might get back soon and then we could interrogate him.” I offered; I didn’t want to bring Ford into this yet because I have a few questions I want to ask him. 

“Okay, I trust your judgement.” Mabel said reluctantly. She obviously felt that this wasn’t the right thing to do, but she went along with it anyways. “Now how are we going to pull this off?” Mabel asked. The spell on the paper was almost impossible for me to read; the most important word being almost. It was in latin. I’m happy I spent last summer learning as much of it as I could. It was with different intentions, but this still helps. Most scientific terms use latin roots, so I thought it would help with my classes. 

“I think I’ve got it.” Most of the sentences seemed like jumbles, but if that’s what it is supposed to say than I am not going to question it. Bill was nice enough to not jumble up that part of it. I don’t think I would ever be able to figure out what it said if he had done that. 

“So all we have to do is find the person and say this to them?”

“And make sure they don’t leave.” I added. This sounded very simple when said that way, but I knew it was going to be almost impossible just for us to find this person without Bill.

“Are you certain we shouldn’t call Ford?” Mabel asked again.

“Yes, we can handle this.” I said with a comforting smile.

(Bill’s POV)

Finding the lost papers was easier than I thought it would. Joe must have just not been looking for them at all. I was about to head back to meet up with Pine Tree when a wonderful smell captured my attention. My stomach growled and I remembered I hadn’t had anything to eat since yesterday. Damn human bodies and their strange functions. 

What’s even worse about the human body is that it craves the most disgusting of food. Fast food places are almost unavoidable because of the flavor, but of course they are also the easiest for me to steal from. All I had to do was walk in a back door and take a drive-thru order. I did get some questioning looks and even one person tried to stop me, but I was able to walk away and no one followed me. By the looks I had been getting they must have just thought I was crazy, and they’re not wrong. I had no idea what was in the bag, but that didn’t matter. Almost twenty-four hours of not eating makes really anything sound good enough to eat; even this trash.

I left the place without looking at the contents of the bag. Once I was a block away I decided to open the bag. It had four boxes labeled whopper with a picture of a burger next to it. Now where would be a good place to eat this? Should I just go back to that fast food place and eat it there? That would be the most fun, but probably not the best for appearances. I’d probably have to use my power to get out of there, and I still wasn’t fully recharged from yesterday. There was a small park on the other side of the street, I guess I could stop there. Or counter idea, I could get back to Pine Tree, and see if he wants some food. That’s the best option and I’m all for it.

“Pine Tree!” I shouted as I made myself appear before him.

“Oh my god!” He shouted and fell back. We were in the middle of a library. Everyone turned to look at what was going on for a quick moment before going back to what they were doing. “Bill? I thought you were going to be gone for a while.” He said nervously.

“I thought you were supposed to be looking for whoever took the power from the crystal?” I questioned leaning closer to him. 

“I-It’s already really late, so Mabel and I stopped looking for the night.” I looked at the closest window and it was fairly dark out. 

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you are at the library?” I took a seat next to him and set the bag of food down on the table. More people were looking at us now. It had to be the food; yet somehow most of their species can’t believe they are nothing more than animals. 

“I just had some things I wanted to look up.” Pine Tree started covering the books he was looking at, but he was too late. I took the surprisingly large pile of books from him. Most of them were on demons, and different versions of hell. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“When did you start getting into this stuff?” I asked him suspiciously.

“I, um, I-” I rested my head on my hand. Is he going to try and lie his way out of this? He was never very good at lying. 

“Pine Tree, stop straining yourself and just tell me.” 

“After hearing your conversation with Jessa, or Joe or whatever, I wanted to know more about your dimension.” He blurted out. For a few moments I didn’t know what to say. I never expected him to say that. I just assumed he was trying to find a way to get rid of me. 

“Why go looking through books written by meatsacks that have never been to my dimension, when you could ask me?” I offered when I finally got over the small amount of shock.

“I didn’t want you to know. I mean, it’s just too awkward.”

“Now I know, so you might as well ask me what you want to know.”

“Okay, what did you mean by house? Do you actually have a house?” I rolled my eyes. I’ve been through this conversation once before, but most meatsacks were not interested in learning more about my dimension.

“Yes, sure our dimensions are different, but everyone needs a safe place.” 

“Okay, now what about, um, relationships? I mean like, do you actually have friends?” Pine Tree rushed his sentences.

“I find that offensive. Of course I have friends.” I was going to stop there, but I just couldn’t help myself. “I’m not an antisocial nerd like you.” At first I was going to word it better, but I need to be nice to Pine Tree. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to hit a nerve or anything. But I should have worded that better. Do you have fellow demons that you talk to and just hang out with. Not just decide to try and take over my dimension with.” It hurt me when Pine Tree brought up Weirdmageddon. That was my biggest failure in my entire existence, and I had constantly tried to avoid the subject ever since.

“Why are you so interested in this all of a sudden? It couldn’t just be because of my conversation with Joe.” Pine Tree began to look nervous again, and that’s how I could tell he was hiding something. “Seems like you have something you should tell me.” I opened the bag that was set next to me and slid a box over to Pine Tree. Might as well eat these before they get cold. This conversation is probably going to take a while. 

“Where did you get these?” Pine Tree asked. 

“At, uh” I looked at the name on the bag. “Burger King.” That name makes no sense. What burgers was that place king of? Because really every fast food place has burgers there. 

“Did you pay for it?”

“Geez, if you don’t want the food then just give it back.” Pine Tree shut up and started eating. “Or are you just trying to change the subject? You should know how hopeless that is, I’ll find out eventually.” 

“Why don’t you just look through my thoughts if you are so interested in knowing?” Was his response.

“What’s the fun in that?” Pine Tree was starting to blush. “Now then, do you just want to get this over with and tell me?” I said mischievously. It’s always fun to try and get information from others, and i could tell Pine Tree was about to crack. 

“We should really get back.” Pine Tree said before he got out of his chair. He turned away from me and walked behind the book shelves. What’s that about? He looked close to telling me. I must have done something wrong; could pushing him have been the wrong thing to do? Hm, next time I should use a different tactic. I picked up the food and followed him out of the library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this fan fiction is taking a turn for the worse. This is why I have a hard time finishing my fan fictions; I start feeling like the story has been derailed and is just heading straight to the dump. But, I'm trying my hardest! So Yay, I hope. And I hope that even if I don't have confidence in my fan fiction that you still enjoy reading it!


	15. Chapter 15

(Dipper’s POV)

Bill was watching me carefully as we made our way back from the library. I don’t know what he was looking for, but it made me uncomfortable. At first I tried to ignore it, but that was impossible for me.

“What are you doing?” I asked him. He acted as though he hadn’t realized he was staring at me. 

“I’m thinking about how easy it would be to freak you out right now.” He replied. I didn’t believe it. He’s planning, and that’s never a good thing. He must have noticed I didn’t believe him because he added. “You can keep trying to run from telling me what I want to know, but I’ll get you to tell me eventually. And if I get too impatient I could always sneak my way into that head of yours.” He brought up with a smug smile as he tapped me on the head. 

“You look ugly when you smile like that.” Was all I could think to say at the moment, and I realized quickly how awkward that was. Why did I have to say that? Can I not be awkward for one day?

“So I don’t look ugly all of the time?” He teased. 

“No, I assure you, you do.” I said right away. That wasn’t true though, I didn’t think he looked ugly, but how could I not? He’s the worst person-demon I know, but he’s still attractive in some weird way. 

“Don’t worry, you don’t need to lie. I know how sexy I am.” Bill said, silently challenging me to correct him. I didn’t. The longer it took me to respond the more curious Bill seemed to get. 

“Let’s not continue this conversation.” I said in hopes to change the topic, but Bill didn’t seem to want to do that.

“Hmm, where’s that immediate rejection I was expecting?” He asked. 

“I’m just not interested in having a argument over something so stupid.” I hope that was my real reasoning for this. It couldn’t be because I agreed, could it? No, that’s insane to even consider! Just then Bill surprised me. He placed his hands on my cheeks; forcing me to look at him. The longer I was forced to look at him the more my pulse quickened, and my heart pounded against my chest. I never noticed how striking his eyes are. It was strange to see someone with blonde hair having brown eyes, but his brown eyes were so light they could be considered gold and probably looked better in the sunlight. Wait, what am I thinking? Why am I feeling this way? What does Bill think he is doing? I slapped his hands away from me. 

“Kid you are as red as a fire truck.” Bill teased. “Though, I wasn’t expecting that.” He started closing in again. I rushed away from him before he could get too close. I have no idea what he might do next, and was still recovering. “You should calm down.” Bill said as he appeared behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. “You’re shaking.” I didn’t notice it until he pointed it out. 

“W-well i-t’s your fault.” I sputtered. 

“Do you really want to say that?”

“Why are you acting so different?” I didn’t mean to ask out loud, but I said it and there was no taking it back now. 

“What do you mean?” Bill cocked his head. 

“You’re strangely nice; it’s making me confused.” I added. It really was, not just not knowing if Bill is really evil but also I don’t know if I like him or not anymore. The answer to that should be easy, but I guess nothing is easy. 

“Do you want to know the truth?” He said quietly as he leaned in closer to me.

“Y-yes.” I wasn’t sure about how I felt about him being so close, but I didn’t push him away. 

“It’s because I like you Pine Tree.” With that I forgot how to speak. Does that mean Jessa was right? She was serious. B-Bill likes me? Suddenly my eyes widened, what am I going to do? “Hm. This wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for, but I hope that you find that you like me too, Pine Tree.” My chest was tight, and my stomach was churning. 

“What would happen if I don’t like you back?” I asked. I know what he is capable of. Would he get mad and go on a killing spree or something? Would he hurt someone? My family? 

“We have all the time in the world, Pine Tree. You’ll fall for me someday.” He said with a sureness I didn’t really like. He started walking away from me. What does he mean we have all the time in the world? From what I can tell I’m going to die someday, and so is he now that he’s human. Maybe it would be best not to think too much about that. “Don’t worry about finding who has the crystal.” He suddenly changed the subject, and at first I didn’t know what he meant. That’s why we are here; we’re looking for whoever picked up one of Bill’s power crystals. “He messed up. I know who it is and I’ll take care of it tonight. I’ll leave once I’m sure you’re safe. So let’s get back quickly, okay?” Bill must have been able to see how uncomfortable I was. Who would judge me though? I’m not even old enough to make my own decisions without parental consent and here I have a demon telling me he likes me.

“Okay.” I managed to get that out at least. Even though I doubted it was a smart thing to do I was going to call Stan and Ford the second I got back to the hotel. 

“Hey Dip-dot!” Mabel said cheerfully when I got back. Why was she awake? I thought she fell asleep. 

“Hi.” I responded. Bill had already left, and Mabel probably didn’t even know I had spoken with him. Suddenly her face changed, her brow scrunched and eyes focused. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked. 

“Um.” I should tell Mabel this before I tell anyone else. “Some pretty weird stuff happened with Bill.” Was all I said before I sat down on the small couch. 

“What kind of weird things?”

“Bill told me he liked me, and I don’t think it was just in a friendly way.” I told her. Mabel looked dumbfounded. If I didn’t hear it from Bill I wouldn’t believe it either.

“What do you mean? He told you he likes you, like, dating kind of like?” Mabel looked as though she couldn’t believe the words she was saying. 

“Yes, and then he added this weird comment that made things even more weird. He said ‘we have all the time in the world’, seriously. As though he really meant it. But that’s impossible because we are going to die someday!”

“Dipper, calm down. Freaking out about this won’t help.” Mabel seemed to be thinking carefully. “Fuck.” she muttered. 

“Mabel?!?!” In all my years I have never heard my sister swear.

“I’m sorry Dipper! This is just reminding me of one of the romance stories I’ve read and it’s all too weird that it’s happening to you.” She smacked herself on her head; then got serious. “Do you like him back?” 

“What!?” I was surprised by her question. Why would she ever think that I like him? 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She had taken a seat next to me, but now she was pacing the room. 

“I never said that!” 

“But your body language did. You can’t hide your feelings from me Dipper. I know all the signs of love.” 

“I don’t love Bill!” I shouted. Not even the slightest concerned the someone might be able to hear me.

“Maybe not yet, but you obviously like him.” Her pacing quickened. “Does he know you like him too?” 

“I don’t like him.” I told her, but she held her hand up to stop me.

“Stop lying to yourself. That’s the only way we can handle this. Now first thing is you need to come to terms with your emotions. Then you have to decide to act on them or not. Dipper, I just want you to know… whatever you choose, I support you.” My sister said with a soft smile. “I mean Bill hasn’t been that bad recently. Maybe he doesn’t mean us harm anymore.” 

“Maybe. I’m going to need some time to think things through.” I said before heading off into one of the adjoined rooms. I closed the door and laid on the bed. What am I going to do? Mabel’s right. I have to come to terms with my feelings, whatever they are. “Do I like Bill?” I mumbled before closing my eyes and hoping that I could get some sleep. Maybe in the morning things will make sense. 

I’d almost forgotten to call Stan and Ford. I was only asleep for a few minutes before I woke up. It scared me to do so, but I probably should. They need to know what is going on, but while I was asleep I realized I needed to find the real Bill. Is he really the cruel demon that wants to ruin my dimension, or is he really not that bad? I called the Mystery Shack's landline. Almost no one would answer that. Leaving this message would be easier than telling them over the phone directly. 

“Hey, things have gotten a little weird here. I just needed to tell you…” I paused. Can I really say this over the phone? Who could listen to this message? I hung up. “Damnit.” I said and hit my head against the bed harder than I wanted to. “What am I going to do?” They need to hear this before we get back, but how am I supposed to tell them? 

“Pine Tree.” I heard Bill’s voice chirp happily. I jumped. What does he want from me now? I still haven’t figured things out. “Don’t worry about telling Sixer or Stan about this. I’ve already got that taken care of.” I didn’t know if I should be scared to know what he considers having it ‘taken care of’ or not. Maybe I should focus more on how he knew what I was doing, 

“I should call.” Was my response. I really need to know what he did. 

“Go ahead, but I don’t advise doing that.” Bill said before disappearing. This time I called Ford’s cell. He would always answer that. I got a groggy Ford on the other end.

“Dipper? Is something wrong?”

“No?” It was more of a question. Is this wrong? Probably. “Did you get anything from Bill?” I asked.

“Something from Bill? No, why?” He sounded more awake now. 

“Just wondering.” Come on Dipper, get the courage to tell him. Why is this even hard for me to say? Shouldn’t it be easy? It’s not like I return the feelings, oh. What am I thinking?! I can’t do this! “I’ve got to go!” I said and was about to end the call.

“Dipper, don’t hang up on me. What’s going on? You sound agitated.” What have I done? There is no backing out on it now. Things will only get worse if I don’t tell him. Bill was right, this was a bad idea.

“Well you see these past few days have been a little weird. First there was this other demon at the casino. Bill got rid of him though, so we don’t have to worry about him. Then I was forced into the dreamscape by the demon and he may have mentioned something about Bill liking me, but I didn’t believe it. That is until Bill told me himself. Now I’m really confused because I think I like him back.” I rushed through it all. The last sentence hit me like a train. I do like him back. Saying it made so many things clear, but I had no idea how to handle it. Is there something wrong with me? I hadn’t really noticed the tears until one landed on my arm. I’m crying? I’m scared and confused. Will Ford hate me? I just admitted I liked the demon he hates more than anything, and we all have reasons for hating him but for me that’s impossible. The longer he took to respond the more scared I got. I realized I heard some rustling from the other end. “Great uncle Ford?” 

“Sorry, there was a box in the livingroom. I’m guessing Bill’s doing?” 

“Probably.” Is he just going to ignore what I just told him? 

“Dipper, do you know what is in the box Bill sent me?” Ford said strained. 

“No, why?” He’s going to ignore what I told him. That only made things worse. I wanted to shout at him to tell me what he felt, but stopped myself from doing so.

“Good.” I heard paper being ripped. “And about what you told me before. Dipper, you don’t know him like I do. Everything he does is for an end goal you never see until it’s too late, don’t be one of his pawns.” I stopped to consider what Ford had said. Is Bill really just messing with me? The more I thought about it the more I knew there was only one thing I could do. I needed to talk to Bill about this, if he’s lying he’s bound to mess up sometime and the more I can get him to talk the easier it will be to spot his lies. 

“I don’t know if he’s lying.” Was all I could say in response. Deep down inside I really hoped he wasn’t. Suddenly I started laughing. 

“What is it?” Ford asked concerned. 

“This should be simple. Get the crystals, hide them from Bill, and done. Now all this drama has been added to it. Isn’t this great?” I asked the last question sarcastically.

“Dipper, it’s late. You should get some sleep.” 

“You’re right.” I responded, but I didn’t feel like sleeping. I was emotionally exhausted yet full of energy. Ford hung up on me. I laid down on the bed. At least he didn’t get mad. That’s got to be a good sign. Maybe now I could relax a little. Suddenly I could sense a new presence in the room.

“I’m sorry. I know I’m probably the last person you want to talk to, but I felt you were in distress and I couldn’t keep ignoring it. Now, what do you want to watch?” Bill flashed a selection of movies in front of me. 

“How about Journey to the Center of the Earth?” I asked. That was one movie that could always manage to cheer me up.

“Can do.” Bill said cheerfully and plopped down on the bed next to me. Surprisingly a large TV appeared at the end of the bed and the movie started playing. 

“Isn’t this going to make you tired?” I asked. Bill looked at me for a moment.

 

“I’ve got another crystal, kid. I can do this for days.” 

“Oh.” This plan isn’t going how we planned, is it? Bill’s getting all the crystals, and we’ve gotten none.


	16. Chapter 16

(Dipper’s POV)

After I calmed down I decided that while we were watching the movie was the best time to start questioning Bill. He didn’t seem that interested in the movie anyways. What am I going to start with?

“Why do you like me?” I asked without much thought. It was a good question. Shouldn’t he hate me just as much as I should hate him. He hummed before answering. 

“I thought it would be simple for you to figure out. I guess not. You’re fun to mess with, smart, and overly reactive. I guess that could be filed under fun to mess with.” I could tell that Bill wasn’t about to stop anytime soon. “You’re cute, when you get embarrassed your whole face turns red. Which happens a lot; you should stop taking things so seriously.” 

“Oh.” I was surprised by his answer. That wasn’t what I had been expecting; a full on rant of all the things he liked about me.

“What?” He asked, noticing my less than enthused reaction. 

“You aren’t lying, right?” I looked directly at him while I waited for his answer.

“Of course I’m not lying. I don’t think I would be very good at faking it.” He told me.

“Faking what?” 

“Liking someone.” He clarified. 

“So you really like me? What if I was to say I liked you back?” I kept it metaphorical. No need to just go out and say it. I don’t think I would have it in me to do that anyways. 

“Well, you’ll just have to wait and see.” He didn’t sound like he was going to say anything else on the subject. 

“What did you give Ford?” I asked. He smiled wickedly. 

“That was just a little joke. Just like you, he takes things too seriously.” 

“What did you send him?” I asked again.

“You’ll have to wait and see.” Was all he was going to tell me. Why do I have to keep waiting? Why can’t he just tell me now? 

(Mabel’s POV)

Earlier in the morning than I would have liked, we had to go back to the Shack. Emergency family meeting Ford said. It most likely had to do with Dipper’s situation. So now we were back at the Mystery Shack, and weirdly enough I was left out of this conversation. I don’t know why, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t find anything else to do. Maybe going outside will help me feel less stressed about this whole thing? 

When I walked outside I noticed it was cloudy; probably going to rain soon. I hope their conversation doesn’t go on for too long. I was heading towards the back of the Shack because that’s my favorite place to sit by the trees, saying there are a lot more there than in the front. When I was walking along the side of the Shack I noticed something strange sitting in the garbage can. It was a pretty big and heavy looking box. I pulled it out of the trash. There was a ripped up piece of paper in it. 

“This is what I have been training for all my life!” I cheered while I started putting it back together with the help of a roll of tape I had in my sweater pocket. When I was done putting it together the note read something like:

Dear Sixer, 

I don’t know how old you are, but I’m guessing this was still part of tradition while you were a kid. So, do you think Dipper is worth two mules or one? I would honestly give a unicorn to marry him. Anyways I have none of those things, so I hope this counts!

From: The Amazing Triangle Bill Cipher

Was Bill being serious when he wrote this? Or was this just a joke? Does he really want to marry Dipper? 

“Oh my gosh.” I whispered to myself. Am I going to have to plan my brother’s wedding? Oh my god, what am I going to do? No way can they get married! Wait, that’s it. They can’t get married anyways, Dipper is still too young. “Hah!” That must be a joke. Either way I need to hear their conversation now. No way am I being left out on an important discussion like this.

I quietly made my way back into the Shack to listen in on the conversation when I noticed Dipper was leaving the room. Oh no! Did I miss it? Then I noticed no one else was leaving the room.

“What’s up Dip-dot?” I asked. 

“Honestly, I’m not sure. Things are getting weird, and I decided it would be best that I don’t sit in on it anymore. I think it’s moved on past the whole ‘Bill likes me’ conversation anyways.” 

“How did it go?” I needed to know.

“About as good as you would expect. Ford told me about the stupid note Bill gave him, but he also said that Bill gave him a crystal. When do you think he had the time to pick that up?” 

“So that’s what this note meant.” I said to myself. I had stored the note in my pocket and brought it out to show Dipper. He started reading this note and after the first line his face turned bright red. 

“What the hell?” He asked while holding back a laugh. “That must be why Ford is so mad today. He wouldn’t go into detail on this note, but now that I’ve read it I can understand his problem with it.” I smiled. Seems like Dipper is doing much better today. 

“Now, have you decided what you are going to do?” I asked him. 

“Yeah, I think I’m going to just see how things play out. I kind of admitted I like Bill in front of him, Ford, Stan, and you now. And thank you for what you said before. That you would support me whatever I chose. I think I’m going to need that.” He said, and looked gloomy. Things mustn’t have gone well with Stan and Ford. 

“Don’t worry bro-bro you always have me. Now then, you ready to spy on their conversation. I promise it will be ten times more fun this way.” I said, even if this conversation doesn’t have to do with us. We still should hear it, and if sitting in and listening to it won’t be fun; trying to spy on them has to be! 

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Dipper responded. 

“No, it’s a wonderful idea.” I said and dragged him up to the attic. I’ve learned of this perfect spot where you can hear the conversation from the living room as though it is happening in the same room. “Just sit right there.” I told him and pointed to a corner of the room. It had a little vent in that corner, and that’s how the sound traveled. I took a seat next to him. At first we heard nothing and thought that the conversation had ended already. 

“Bill, what are you planning?” Ford asked finally.

“What do you mean?” He asked innocently. 

“All of this. There has to be some kind of plan behind it.” 

“I don’t always have to have an ‘evil’ plan Sixer.” There was an uncomfortable silence after that. 

“You wouldn’t be Bill if you didn’t.” Ford answered. 

“Okay, so you want to know what my plan was?” 

“Yes! That is what we are asking!” Grunkle Stan spoke up.

“Well my only plan was to get Pine Tree to like me, and it seems like that’s been accomplished. So I don’t really have a plan now.” I could see Dipper blushing like crazy.

“That can’t be all. And you haven’t won over Dipper yet.” Ford replied. I looked to Dipper to see if what Ford had said was true. I couldn’t help but hope he was right. Dipper was now more focused on the conversation. 

“I guess you’re right.” Bill seemed to give in. Everyone was waiting for his true plan to be revealed. “I should probably ask him on a date.” That’s it? Two people sighed in unison. “What do you think he would like more, a trip to a museum or a zoo? Hmmm I think museum.” Bill seemed to be saying that just to get a reaction from Stan and Ford. “So, what do you say Pine Tree? You ready for that date?” Bill appeared behind Dipper, scaring both of us.

“What?! How?! How did you know we were listening?” Dipper said in shock.

“Well you two weren’t being very subtle about it.” 

“What do you mean? This is the perfect place. There was no way you would know we were here.” I said and crossed my arms. I have used this spot many times and never got caught, but now that I think about it I never tried spying on a demon like this. 

“Not entirely, the sound travels both ways. Most meatsacks wouldn’t realize it, but of course I’m not just any meatsack.” he said angrily. As though he still hated the fact that he was human. 

“Um, but shouldn’t we be more focused on the crystals anyways?” Dipper asked. 

“Don’t worry about it. Sixer somehow, I helped, made a device so he can track down the crystals and is taking things into his own hands.” Bill responded. 

“Why would you help him with that?” I asked. 

“So I could spend more time with Pine Tree of course.” Bill said with a smile that made me feel that something wasn’t fitting into place. Before he was certain that only he could find the crystals; now he’s letting Ford do all the work. Only now when Dipper has admitted that he likes Bill giving him immunity from anything bad happening to him; at least from our family. Could he just be using Dipper so he doesn’t get hurt? As a shield? It would be something Bill would do, but I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. 

“Oh-um.” Dipper shied away. 

“So, what about that date?” Bill asked again; leaning in close to Dipper. So close I could swear it looked like they were about to start making out right in front of me, gross. 

“Um, okay.” Dipper said unsure of himself. 

“Great, Let’s go right now.” Bill whispered seductively. I couldn’t tell if they were actually going to a museum or if they were leaving to have sex at the moment.

“S-sure.” Dipper answered. Then they disappeared; leaving me all alone. What am I going to do now that they are gone? I’m going to be left alone now that Stan and Ford are going to be leaving, and I’ll be stuck as the third wheel with Dipper and Bill. Never thought I would be saying that. 

(Dipper’s POV)

It didn’t even feel like Bill waited to hear my answer before everything started moving; it still made me dizzy and I ended up holding onto Bill for support. At least I’ve gotten over the vomiting. When things stopped moving I let go of Bill, a little too quick. It was making me feel weird though. It gave me a funny feeling being that close to him.

We walked around the museum for hours. He ended up taking me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There was so many things to look at that I could probably spend another five hours here. Many of the paintings had small details, and you could never look over one too quickly without missing something.

“We should get back.” I just thought. We have been gone for hours. No one was going to be at the Shack, except Mabel and Soos. Now that I am thinking about it that could be a recipe for disaster. 

“What? Already?” Bill complained playfully. 

“We’ve already been gone longer than we should.” I replied. 

“Yeah.” He said, a little zoned out. For most of our time here he has been like that, but I only really started noticing it as weird now. “Could we make one last stop before we head back?” He asked. 

“Sure.” I shrugged. Bill started leading me through the museum. I had no idea where he was going. “We’ve already been here.” I said quietly.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I think I forgot something here though.” He answered, and checked to see if anyone was watching before ripping a painting. 

“BILL!” I shouted. What was he doing? Suddenly, a crystal formed from the ripped up painting, and all that was left was the frame. What just happened? Bill carelessly picked it up and tossed it around. I just noticed he had put gloves on. What is he doing? 

“Catch.” he said as he threw it at me. 

“Wai-” The crystal was heading right for me, and faster than I could dodge. Instinctively I caught it. “Bill?” I questioned as light filled the room. When the light faded Bill was standing right in front of me. I was dazed, and was already starting to feel different. What is going on? Bill started kissing me, and I could feel some of the energy from the crystal being pulled out of me by him, but it didn’t hurt like last time. “What are you doing?” I questioned as he stopped kissing me to set me down. The energy from the crystal was seeming to cover every inch of me; not like last time when it felt to be flowing in my veins. It made my entire body feel heavy. 

“Let’s be together for forever.” He whispered with a devious smirk. I couldn’t understand what he meant by that. My eyelids started feeling heavy. “We probably shouldn’t tell Sixer about this.” He said jokingly. Just before I closed my eyes a light started spreading across my eyes. It seemed to come from nowhere. What is happening to me?


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically I've got a writing problem. I have too many ideas, and I can't always fit them into the story I am writing, but don't want to put in the whole work of making it a separate one shot, so basically you're stuck with getting little bonus stories at the end of lucky chapters, like this one.
> 
> Also I just felt bad because I realized I probably wouldn't be able to add Bill discovering five hour energy, but I needed that in my life, so I'm working on a little piece with that in it to add. However, this little bonus piece is called Tickle Wars (Not as exciting as it sounds, but it's all fluff. (Literally almost wrote smut, "mind no! There is no smut right now! That's for later.")

(Dipper’s POV)

When I opened my eyes I knew this wasn’t Earth. Where am I? I quickly started looking around. Everything was so, weird. Then it started making sense where I was. I am in Bill’s dimension! What is going on? What did he do to me? I kept looking around and around until I finally found a familiar triangle. 

“Bill! What the hell did you do to me?” I shouted, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was floating away from me, and I had no choice but to follow him. “Bill?” I tried to get his attention again; just as before he ignored me. Damnit. I gave up on trying to get him to notice me. Then I realized something subtle, but important, was missing. Where was the top hat he always had on? Honestly I thought it was part of his demon form. I guess not.

“There you are Cipher.” I heard an unfamiliar cheerful voice say. Bill took notice to that demon instantly. For a second I swore I could see an annoyed expression on his face, but it quickly changed to cheerful. 

“Long time no see.” He said happily; I could hear a forced tone. Whoever that demon was he didn’t seem to like them very much. 

“So you ready to start?” The demon asked expectantly. Start what? I was standing next to Bill, and yet the other demon didn’t notice me either.

“Sure.” Bill said. He seemed unsure of himself, and this was the first time I had seen that in him. 

“I’ll show you how things are done today, but tomorrow you start making your own deals.” The demon said. Deals? Does that demon mean-? What is going on?

“Got it.” He said obediently. Then the other demon snapped their fingers and we were somewhere else. 

“Stay out of sight.” The demon said, and Bill did as he was told. Even though I could go anywhere and not disrupt anything; by what I have experienced so far, I stood by Bill’s side. “Hey there bud. I’ve heard you need a little help.” The demon said nicely. Beginning their persuasion. 

“Who are you?” The young man asked. He has no idea what he is getting himself into. 

“Someone that wants to help.” The demon answered. 

“What can you do to help?” He asked. I looked over at Bill. He wasn’t even paying attention anymore. 

Suddenly, the scene changed. Now I was in a dimly lit stone corridor. There was no windows, and the only light was from glowing orbs. I found Bill floating down the corridor; I ran quickly to catch up with him and continued to follow him; wherever it is he is going. 

“You know, this is really boring.” I said; trying to see if I could get his attention. Nope, again I am invisible. He went along for another minute or so, but then stopped. He floated around in a circle; probably checking to make sure he was alone. What is he going to do? I waited patiently, expectantly to see what he was going to do; not like I could do anything else. He made a chisel and hammer appear, and started carving something into the stone wall. Another demon was heading down the corridor as he had begun; forcing him to stop. Bill and the demon made eye contact, but only for a second. The other demon mustn’t have realized what Bill had been doing. The second the other demon went by the chisel and hammer reappeared. It took a full minute at least for the carving to be done. Bill chuckled to himself before floating off. I decided to take a closer look. Not that surprisingly the image in the stone was of himself. 

Again, the scene suddenly changed, and I was in a wide open stone room. The design looked like the corridor I had just been in, so I assume this is the same place. Just as I felt I had gotten adjusted to the new scenery a giant spider dropped from the ceiling. 

“Ahhh!” I shouted and hit the deck as fast as possible. The spider was right above me. I had never been more thankful to be invisible than at this second. All I could see was the underside, but by the amount of fuzz this spider had I could tell it was a tarantula.

“Don’t you just love these things?” A feminine voice called from behind the spider. 

“I think they’re too cute. Too much fuzz, not enough fangs.” I heard Bill’s voice. Typical. Slowly, I crawled my way out from under the spider. I know I’m invisible and everything, but I have a certain thing about spiders. 

“But that’s what makes them perfect! They look so cute, but they can kill their prey swiftly.” Now I was able to see the owner of the other voice. The demon was surprisingly human like. Except she had maroon skin and dots all over her. I couldn’t tell if they were painted on or if she naturally had those. Not to mention what was supposed to be hair was snakes. Reminds me of medusa. 

“Now, why did you call me here?” Bill said impatiently. 

“Fine, let’s get to the point. Not talk about my amazing creation right there.” She pointed to the spider. “As you probably know, you’ve been costing me some important deals. Now, I know that isn’t like you; you always had a way with humans. So why don’t you tell me what you have planned.” The tension in the room hit an all time high, and I was feeling awkward; yet intrigued. 

“What can I say? The last few deals have just slipped through my fingers. I promise I won’t fail again.” Bill said apologetically. If I hadn’t dealt with him before I would have believe him, but it seemed like the woman wasn’t fooled either. 

“I won’t hurt you as long as you tell me what you are planning.” She hissed; for a second I couldn’t tell if it was her that was speaking or her hair. 

“It’s not an overthrow if that is what you are worried about. I have no desire to be in your position.” The other demon raised an eyebrow. “I have some personal problems I have to take care of.” Bill added. The other demon seemed pleased to hear that. 

“Then maybe we could make our own deal.” She said with a sneer. 

“What would you have that would interest me?” Bill asked. 

“The power you are looking for of course.” She said as though it was obvious. “My deal is this, you will be my partner, of sorts. I’ll give you half of the power my workers gather for me, and you can do what you want with it. As long as you protect me when I need you.” There was a moment of silence. I could tell Bill was thinking it over carefully. 

“Sounds like you’ve got yourself a deal.” Bill raised his hand, with blue fire covering his hand. The other demon shook his hand with a hand engulfed in red fire. I got a feeling of dread. Even though I didn’t really know what happened; I could tell it wasn’t good. 

This time the scene changed slowly. As though it didn’t know where it was going. Finally it ended in the world I was used to. I let out a sigh of relief, but that was a little soon. Just as I relaxed a loud crack came from behind me. I turned to see two men. One was on the ground; his head facing the wrong way, and the other stood over him with a grin. The closer I looked the more I realized that the standing man’s eyes were yellow. Bill. 

“I gave you the chance to apologize, but you just couldn’t, could you?” Bill spoke to the unmoving body. He kicked it behind a bush, and moved over to the path I was standing on. “One down, four to go.” Bill said to himself. What did he mean? He’s going to kill more people? Then I heard a groan from the other man. He’s not dead? I rushed back to the bush to find him. When I looked at the body closer I realized this eyes were glowing too. Another demon. 

“I swear, when I get out of this body I’m going to kill him!” A voice shouted. The demon must have said that telepathically because there was no way he could talk with his head the way it is. Then I watched as the body seemed to be absorbed into the ground.

Again the scene changed. This is getting kind of frustrating. What am I doing? Why do I keep seeing these things? By now I realized this was all Bill’s past, but why am I seeing this? What good is it to me? 

“Bill, I need your help!” It was the voice of the demon Bill had made the deal with. She was yelling from down the hall. I watched as Bill zoomed passed; I then started following him. What I saw when I turned the corner was, nightmarish, gruesome, and colorful? There was different colored liquid all over the walls; which I could only assume was a demon’s version of blood. However there wasn’t any bodies anywhere. It was as though the demons became goo. Bill didn’t give the colorful liquids covering the walls a second glance as he rushed down the hallway. I rushed after him; trying not to think about the liquids I was stepping in. This isn’t real. This isn’t real. I had to continue telling myself. 

“You’re too late.” A mournful voice said when Bill entered a widened room. It looked like a study. There were books everywhere; pages were fallen across the ground. The room was filled with red specs floating around the room. “Congratulations, you’ve just been promoted.” The mournful voice said with a laugh. 

“What?” Bill sounded shocked, and not in a good way. 

“You were her business partner. Now that she’s gone, you run the business.” The voice continued. Finally I was able to find the demon hiding in the corner of the room. 

“What if I don’t want to be the boss?” Bill asked. I gave him a questioning look I knew he couldn’t see. He’s willing to pass up an opportunity that will give him more power? Wasn’t that all he wanted when he tried taking over my dimension?

“Well you know how things go, the only way out is to follow your friend here.” The demon opened their hands palm up; letting some of the red specs fall into their hands. 

“If I’m going to run this business then there needs to be some changes.” 

“Anything you wish, master.” The other demon bowed. 

Before I could consider the events that had just taken place, everything changed, again. I was back in the stone room from before; except there wasn’t a spider. Which I was extremely grateful for. Bill was sitting in a ‘throne’ at the end of the room; his top hat in place, and he gave off an aura of confidence. This is the Bill I know. The change was astonishing, and I didn’t get to see it happen. Even though I didn’t know when this was I could sense it was years after the last event I saw. Is this how Bill became who he is today? By making a deal that ended him in a position he didn’t want. This made me feel different about him; was he so power hungry because he wants to be or is it because that’s how he had to be to make it in his dimension? Maybe I could talk about it with him once I am done with whatever this is, but first we need to talk about the crystal he threw at me. 

~ ~ ~

I jumped as I felt like I was thrown into my body. I quickly scanned the room. It was the attic. Finally, I was able to relax for good. There are so many things to think of now, and I don’t even know the full story. 

“Pine Tree!” I heard Bill coo. “What did you see?” He asked excitedly. 

“What do you mean?” I asked; pretty sure I knew what he meant. He raised an eyebrow.

“Does water flea mean anything to you?” Bill asked.

“No, should it?” Bill immediately began to pout. 

“You missed my favorite memory!” He complained. “Well other than meeting you that is.” He added quickly. I could feel my cheeks grow warm. Really? Why am I so calm? I should be yelling at him! 

“Bill you threw a crystal at me!” I shouted. 

“Hush.” Bill put a finger to my mouth. “Yes, well that was a special crystal, don’t worry about the power corrupting you or anything like that. It’s not in your body. It’s in your soul, and considering how goody-two-shoes you are you have nothing to worry about.” 

“What?” I harshly whispered. 

“Yep, you’re my soulmate now.” Bill said with a wicked grin. “If one of us dies, then the other will too.” My eyes widened. If Bill dies, I die? There was so many different things I was thinking about at once my mind felt like it was swimming. Bill must have planned this. To connect himself to me, but why? There was only one thing I could think of, but he couldn’t have played me like that, could he? Just when I was starting to think he wasn’t that bad.

~ ~ ~ BONUS ~ ~ ~

“Hey Pine Tree.” Dipper heard Bill behind him say. Before he could acknowledge the man standing behind him, he felt hands grab his sides and gently squeeze. On instinct Dipper jumped, and slapped away the hands. 

“Bill! Don’t do that.” Dipper said trying to hold back a smile. In all honesty he was quite ticklish there, and he hoped Bill hadn’t figured that out. 

“So you are ticklish there.” He said with a devious smirk. How did he know? Mind reading. Quickly Bill reached for Dipper’s sides again and started tickling him. Dipper kept slapping, kicking, and laughing while trying to get away from Bill. He was able to get a lucky slap in, hitting Bill right in the eye, and took the chance to run for it. He didn’t have much time before Bill would get over the slap. All of the laughing seemed to have energized Dipper because he almost made it back to the Shack. Key word being almost. 

For about a minute Dipper was free, but who could really run from Bill? He’s a multidimensional being that can appear anywhere he wants. In a flash Bill was in front of Dipper. The boy tried to turn around, but he was too slow, and Bill easily pinned him to the ground. Bill grabbed his sides again and mercilessly tickled Dipper until he was on the ground gasping for air in between laughs. 

“B-Bill, stop!” Dipper begged. Finally, Bill stopped and let Dipper calm down.

“Your human reactions are quite funny. I don’t really know how that is supposed to protect you, but it’s entertaining. Where else are you ticklish?” Bill asked as he softly ran his fingers against Dipper’s neck. 

“Don’t!” Dipper turned away from the touch. Trying his hardest to cover his neck. “What is this all about anyways?” He mumbled into the ground he was pinned to. 

“Like I said, watching your reactions are too funny. I really have no idea how that is supposed to protect you.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Don’t you know the reason for being ticklish? I would think I nerd like you would know.” 

“I’m not a nerd!” 

“Nerd.” Bill repeated with the sole purpose of annoying Dipper. “Meatsacks are ticklish in weak spots; you’re basically trying to protect yourself. Though you do a bad job at it.” 

“I was able to get away from you.” Dipper reminded him.

“Not for long.” Bill added. “But that was just luck anyways.” Bill finally let go of Dipper. 

“Yeah right. I could beat you easily.” Dipper huffed. He was way too tired for anything at the moment, so he just laid there next to Bill.

“I doubt it Pine Tree.” Bill said and leaned over Dipper; looking down at him with a mischievous look. His arms holding his face only a foot away from Dipper’s. 

“W-what are you doing?” Dipper asked nervously. Bill closed the distance between them. His lips pressed against Dipper’s for only a second. Bill pulled away too quickly, and Dipper was too nervous to kiss Bill back. ‘Damn anxiety, I can’t win anything.’ Dipper thought as they spent the rest of the evening laying next to each other; chatting about random topics every once in awhile. Never bringing up the kiss they both enjoyed.


	18. Chapter 18

(Dipper’s POV)

“Dipper? Are you awake?” The door opened and my sister entered the room. She was surprised to see Bill leaning over me on my bed. I quickly pushed him away so I could talk to my sister. 

“Yes. Mabel, Bill’s an asshole.” I said with a poker face. Bill gasped in fake offence. Then he got a grin I didn’t very much like. So I was happy that my sister had said something before he was able to say whatever it was he was thinking. 

“What?” My sister looked at me confused. 

“Bill threw a crystal at me.” My twin glared at him. 

“Guilty.” Bill said and put his hands up in the air. 

“Well get it out of him!” She yelled. 

“Cannot do Shooting Star. He hasn’t even gotten to my greatest memories yet. I mean come on, if you are going to have to see my memories at least wait until you’ve seen them all.” 

“Memories? What is he talking about?” Mabel asked me, so I tried explaining my weird visions of Bill’s past. “But you can still get the crystal out of him, can’t you?” Mabel asked urgently. 

“No, it’s kind of part of him now.” Bill said happily. The look my sister gave him was one that was reserved for only the people she hated; which wasn’t many, so it was even more scary. Even though it wasn’t directed towards me I felt like I needed to apologize for something.

“I’m telling Ford.” She said. “He will know a way to fix this.” Mabel nodded before turning to leave the room.

“Mabel, can I talk to you? Privately.” I emphasized privately as a looked at Bill. He seemed to be willing enough to leave us be, but I couldn’t be so sure with him. He could listen in on our conversation without either of us knowing anyways. We left the room and closed the door.

“Dipper, please tell me you are not okay with this!” 

“I’m not; trust me, I’m not. But, this could be useful. If I really am getting Bill’s memories then that means I might finally be able to understand him. He wouldn’t be able to trick us anymore.” I explained; hoping my sister might be able to understand.

“Dipper! You are going to be corrupted if you keep the crystal in you!” My sister complained; obviously scared for my well being. 

“I don’t think I will. This time was different.” I explained. “Bill even told me I wouldn’t be corrupted by the crystal, and I believe that.” The expression my sister wore made me feel guilty, as though I was doing something wrong. She looked hurt, and it was my fault, but what am I supposed to do about this. As far as we know I am stuck with this crystal, and there isn’t anything we can do about it now. 

“I trust you Dipper, but I’m not so sure about Bill anymore. What if he’s just using you? Please, just promise me you’ll be your normal paranoid self about this.” Mabel quickly cheered up, as she always does. “Now who’s up for popcorn!” She said cheerfully. 

Mabel and I ended up having a competition to see who could toss and catch the most popcorn pieces with their mouth as a movie played. I had slept for most of the day so it was already after noon. Honestly, I had completely forgotten what movie it was we were supposed to be watching. It was fun just hanging out with my sister; though ominous that Bill hadn’t appeared again. Not that I’m complaining; the less I see of him the better I feel about this. 

“Oh! Oh! OOOH! Beat that!” My sister yelled. She had just completed throwing a piece of popcorn across the room and running to the other side quick enough to catch it in her mouth. No way could I beat that. 

“I can beat that easy.” Finally, Bill showed up. I had to force myself to hold back an involuntary groan. 

“I wasn’t talking to you.” My sister responded and crossed her arms. I didn’t say anything, not wanting to choose sides in this argument. Though if I had to it would be Mabel’s; she hasn’t done anything to get on my bad side recently, unlike someone else I know. 

“Aw come on. Afraid to lose?” Bill began to tease, but Mabel wasn’t going to give in. This time she was the one that stayed quiet. 

“So, where have you been all day?” I asked Bill. He turned to me and grinned. 

“Planning.” Mabel and I both began to glare at him. What is he up to now? Bill rolled his eyes. “I do one thing, and now you two are acting like I’m planning world domination.” 

“Well are you?” I asked him. 

“Well, that wasn’t what I was talking about at this moment.” Bill said quickly. “I’m coming up with a surprise to make up for the whole crystal thing.” He said nonchalantly, seeming to be more interested in his hand than the conversation. 

“It’s going to have to be something big to make up for that.” Mabel mumbled. 

“I realize that well. Which is why my go to apologies won’t work this time.” Bill flopped down on the small couch. “And I don’t think Dipper would very much like a heart of a wolf, which is the traditional apology gift in my dimension.” I was sitting on the floor next to it until Bill pulled me up to join him on the couch. 

“Bill, let me go.” I said without much of a fight. It would be to no avail anyways. 

“Aw, but why Pine Tree?” Bill cooed. 

“I’m still mad at you. That’s why.” 

“Can’t you pretend to not be mad at me, for tonight at least?” 

“Why only tonight?” I asked; not really interested in his reason. 

“Because I believe that by tomorrow morning you won’t be mad at me anymore.” Bill said before gently kissing my forehead. I could feel my cheeks getting warm and I wasn’t hating the affection, but I still pushed myself away from him. 

“And why do you believe that?” I asked. A part of me already had a guess on what he meant. 

“I’m sure your dreams tonight will be very eventful.” Bill said with a knowing grin. That only solidified my guess. I’m going to be getting more of Bill’s memories tonight, and part of me was excited for it. I may finally be able to understand this crazy guy, demon, whatever; something that I don’t think anyone else has been able to do. I was starting to look forward to sleeping tonight, but it was only three. On top of that I’m not tired. I guess sleeping for almost a full day's sleep will do that to a person. 

“Dip-dot, do you want to play ghost in the graveyard?” Mabel interrupted.

“Isn’t it too early for that?” I asked. Normally that is supposed to be played at night.

“Well it would be a little too dangerous to play it out in the forest at night. You know with the creatures and stuff, but maybe we’ll be able to play it until sunset. Just the basis of it. You know, running hide and seek.” Mabel said happily. “I’ll get people to join us so it will be more fun.” She left the room without waiting for my answer. I knew she was trying her hardest to keep me busy so I would spend less time with Bill, but she didn’t have to try so hard. 

(Mabel’s POV)

I was able to get a pretty big crowd of people to show up for the game. So much so that we decided to have two seekers. Strangely Pacifica helped me with finding people, but now that I think about it we’ve been spending a lot of time together lately. With all that is going on it’s kind of nice to have another girl to talk to; other than Grenda and Candy, of course. 

“Hey Shooting Star.” Bill. Everyone had already started running into the forest to start the game. 

“What do you want?” I asked harshly. Still not happy with him. 

“Some help. To make my surprise for Dipper the best one I can make it.” Bill was smiling, but I wasn’t sure about him. “Please?” He added. 

“What do you want help with?” 

“Well what is something Dipper has wanted to do his whole life? Something that I might be able to achieve, preferably.”

“Why not take him to the moon?” I said sarcastically. 

“He’d die if I did that, not to mention my meatsack wouldn’t be able to handle that either.” Bill said thoughtfully. I rolled my eyes. That was supposed to be a joke. 

“Well…” I felt bad that I couldn’t think of something right away. He’s my brother; my twin! However, I wasn’t thinking of anything short term and big enough to make up for Bill’s mess up, but why the hell am I trying to help him anyways? “Why can’t you figure it out yourself?” I decided to counter. 

“I just thought that since you're his sister you might be able to think of something I might miss. But if you have nothing to add then I think I’ll just go with what I already planned out.” He started walking away, but I stopped him.

“What do you have planned?” I asked quickly. He turned around to grin at me. 

“That, is a surprise.” He disappeared; leaving me even more unsettled. What could he be planning? I doubt it would be anything good. As far as I know he doesn’t know much about our customs; which means he might go with his dimensional stuff, and that stuff would freak anyone out. Bill, you better not mess this up, for Dipper’s sake.


	19. Chapter 19

(Dipper’s POV)

I laid awake in bed; not really sure what to do. Bill had been right about one thing; my dreams had been very eventful, but I was still mad at him and overall had an uneasy feeling about him. My dreams were like a movie; watching him go from someone just trying to help his friends to becoming cruel and uncaring. He was still as bad as my first impression implied, but I could tell that he wasn’t completely heartless. I mean even after all that happened he still looked out for Jessa and some other demons he considered ‘friends’. Though I could understand why his dimension is called the nightmare realm; I felt as though I had just watched every messed up movie ever made in one night. 

Without thinking much about it I stood up; careful not to wake Mabel and left the attic. I went to sit on the roof; to consider everything. Oh, and now that I think about it that memory he was talking about, the water flea, that isn’t even that funny. Okay, maybe a little, but he really should have left that thing alone. I guess he just doesn’t know when to quit. Which makes a lot of sense. He’s still here after all. Still bothering us. 

“Hey Pine Tree! How are you doing?” Bill appeared behind me and rested his chin on my head. His elbows uncomfortably placed on my shoulders. 

“You’re past is basically the stereotypical good guy goes evil story. Though you weren’t much better to start off with.” I scuffed. 

“Oh, did I hear that correctly? Pine Tree called me a ‘good guy’? Sounds like your brain’s a little messed up.” Bill flicked me on the side of the head while he teased. 

“Whatever, I just meant you weren’t as bad as you are now.” Bill’s arms slipped down around my waist as he rested his head on my shoulder. It was strange that I was just sitting there letting him touch me, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable around him anymore. I know all I need to know about him, and quite a few things I wish I never learned.

“Also, I got to see your memories. It was quite entertaining.” I was about to say something because I hadn’t realized this thing went both ways, but Bill cut me off. “Now I was thinking about what I could do to make up for my actions.” He said it as though he didn’t believe he had done anything wrong; he probably didn’t. “But I don’t know if you still care about these things. I noticed you were trying to make a new one.” As he said that the three journals appeared before me floating in a circle; with the sunrise it looked as though they were glowing. I reached out to touch one, expecting my hand to go right through it, but I was able to pick it up. However, it caused a chain reaction and the other two fell. Ironically the one I had grabbed was journal three. 

“How?” I asked as I skimmed through the pages; everything was as I remembered. 

“I memorized them before I destroyed them.” Bill answered quickly. 

“And you really could make them this easily?” 

“Of course, they are just books anyways.” As I was looking at journal three I remembered the last time I was here. The memories I had seen of Bill’s did involve weirdmageddon, and what happened afterwards. He was trapped for the longest time, but Jessa was the one that got him out. After that it was endless searching for him; he had lost everything while he was trapped, and getting revenge was all he could think about. How has all that planning turned to this though? 

“Bill, why are you being so cooperative? I mean you hate us, but you’re not acting like it.” 

“Aw, but I don’t hate you Pine Tree.” Bill cooed. 

“I realize that, but why?” I hadn’t been able to actually hear Bill’s thoughts throughout his memories, and wait, now that I think about it; I don’t have all of Bill’s memories yet. Nothing after the watches. “Bill, why am I getting your memories? What is this really? I mean how is this working?” 

“I already explained that kid. We’re soulmates.”

“But what does that mean?” That wasn’t much of an explanation anyways. I can’t believe I didn’t ask him this sooner. I was just too interested in learning about him to care. 

“Well, since you are so curious, it means that that last crystal I gave you was part of my soul. They don’t really work how you humans expect them to. They are easily broken, but of course you can die if you do something like I did. Living without a piece of your soul is kind of strange, it’s a completely different pull than with the rest of my power. It’s like a constant hunger.” Bill started zoning out, but got back on track. “Anyways, since I gave you part of my soul I took a little bit of yours. About as much as you got from me. So don’t freak out.”

“So, we are sharing souls?”

“Yeah, in a way I guess that explanation works.” We sat there in silence for a short while while I tried to wrap my head around all of this. As every moment went by I felt that the journals were just going to disappear. My thoughts were interrupted when the sound of a car pulling in caught my attention. I thought Stan and Ford were supposed to be gone longer. “Well, it seems like things are about to get interesting.” Bill said before disappearing. What does he mean by that?

I quickly hid the journals in my backpack which I left upstairs. With nothing else to do except think until my head hurt; I walked down to the gift shop to wait for Stan and Ford. I was down in the gift shop waiting for someone to enter when Mabel joined me. 

“Hey, what’s going on? I saw Ford doing something outside.” she said between yawns. 

“I don’t really know.” I decided to stop waiting and see what it was he was doing. When I opened the door there was panicked running. Stan and Ford never stayed in one place long. They were carrying bags around with them. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked. Ford stopped.

“Bill was lying about where they crystals were. The first place he marked we didn’t find anything, so I decided to see if anything weird had been happening in the other places he marked. There was nothing. At any of them.” I didn’t really understand what he meant. Bill had lied to us? Of course he would! It was stupid for any of us to trust him. I was watching them run around; still not sure what I should do when I started feeling the need to laugh, and I wasn’t able to stop. Everyone stopped to look at me with concerned looks. “Dipper?” Ford asked. I was finally able to get myself under control. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened to me.” I said, but then a voice in my head told me exactly what happened.

Sorry kid, I just couldn’t help myself. This is just too hilarious. I mean seriously; shouldn’t someone as smart as Sixer been able to find out sooner? 

“Dipper, we found a way to get rid of Bill. We can send him back the way he came. If he has gotten to all of the crystals, like I assume he has by now, this will be easy. We just need to get him back to the spot.” Ford looked hopeful, but I could tell he wasn’t thinking things through all the way. Bill would never do that. He was getting desperate. I felt dread with this news, but why hasn’t Bill done anything yet if he has his power back? Shouldn’t he be able to do really anything he wants? 

“And what happens if Bill doesn't have all of the crystals.” Mabel asked. I mouthed the words ‘what are you doing?’. She’s going to tell Ford about what happened and that will only make him panic more. Maybe now wouldn’t be the best time to say this. We don’t need to panic him more; we need to calm him down so he will think this through all the way.

“Then this plan won’t work.” Ford explained. “But there is no way he hasn’t gotten all of the crystals by now.”

“What if Dipper has one.” 

“Mabel!” I shouted. Now was not the time for this. 

“What do you mean?” Ford paled. 

“Bill, he threw a crystal at Dipper and now he says he can’t get it out of him.” Ford looked at me with a look of pure disappointment. Normally a look like that from him would make me hate everything I did wrong, but this was just too much all at once for me to really process a complex emotion like guilt. It wasn’t my idea to catch the crystal. It was just my instinctive reaction. 

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“Because I didn’t think it was important. I mean it isn’t like this crystal is affecting me badly. So what’s the whole problem?” I countered. Ford paused for a second to think. 

“So you don’t feel any different? Are you able to do what you were able to do last time?” Ford began questioning me. 

“No, and I don’t know I haven’t tried.” Stan had finished moving the bags and was now standing by his brother. 

“What does that mean?” He asked Ford. It seemed as though Ford wasn’t thinking about answering Stan’s question. All of his attention was on me now.

“Dipper, how could you keep something like that a secret? This isn’t just about Gravity Falls this time! The whole world could be in danger because of Bill!” I was taken aback by his yelling. I didn’t know what to say, and honestly don’t think I can. I’ve never seen Ford this way before. “Because of you the whole world is in danger.” 

“Ford, maybe you should calm down. He didn’t know what was going on.” Stand tried to talk to Ford, but he didn’t care. Ford stormed off; probably to his lab realizing things weren’t the way he expected them to be. Stan followed him. So it was just Mable and I standing outside of the Shack. 

“Is this really all my fault?” I asked myself out loud.

“No, Dipper. It’s all of our fault for letting Bill stay around so long. We fell into his trap again.” 

“I need some time alone.” I told Mabel before walking into the woods surrounding the Shack. 

“Dipper!” Mabel called after me, but I kept walking. 

I had been walking for almost two hours before I took a break. My legs felt like jelly and it was so humid the air felt like syrup, but those things weren’t half as bad as my mind playing through Ford’s words. ‘Because of you the whole world is in danger’. I tried pushing that thought from my mind and started thinking about something that might fix this.

“Heya Pine Tree.” Bill said as he appeared in front of me. I didn’t bother looking up at him. “Oh come on. You know that if I was planning to destroy your world I would have done that already.”

“And why haven’t you?” 

“As I’ve said before. This is personal. I don’t care about your dimension. All I want is you.” I felt a pull to look up towards Bill. 

“What?” I asked; not really sure what he meant by that. 

“I want you. You know as in you.” Bill poked me in the chest. “Not the twenty-first letter of the alphabet u.” 

“What do you plan to do with me?” I hoped he didn’t plan to hurt me. 

“What do I not plan to do with you?” Bill laughed. That didn’t ease my mind. Bill rolled his eyes. “Pine Tree, can’t you just believe me? I like you, and that’s all you should need to know.” I didn’t know what to say; honestly, a majority of me liked him too. Ford hadn’t like it before, but now…

“Why did you do all of this? What are you really getting out of this?” 

“Shouldn’t that be obvious Pine Tree? I get to be with you, and I get to keep my precious power.” Bill said with a grin. “On top of that I get to piss off Sixer.” 

“Could you leave me alone for a while? I need to think about things.” I asked. Bill looked stunned and confused, but complied with my request. I need to think about this. I have only two choices; follow my brain and help my family get rid of Bill or listen to my heart and be with him instead. But if I choose Bill, my family will never want to see me again, and who knows what will happen if I leave Bill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: If you are interested in learning what Dipper's dreams were; I think I am just going to be making a different story for that because it would take forever for me to type the whole thing, and I really want this story to get back to it's plot. Which is why I am just going to hint at what he saw. So if you are interested in hearing that story, leave a comment and I'll see if I will write it depending on the responses I get.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love posting a story as I am writing it because comments I get on it really change how the plot unfolds. Which on that note, this plot has turned upside down and expect a roller-coaster of emotions and events.

(Mabel’s POV)

“Don’t you think we should go out and look for Dipper?” I asked. Both Stan and Ford hadn’t talked much since what happened not to long ago. Ford’s expressions kept going from anger to guilt. He didn’t know whether to be mad at himself for all of this or feel guilty for what he said to Dipper. I know this because he would mumble stuff every once in awhile. 

“No.” Ford responded.

“Ford, he’s still just a kid.” Stan pleaded. 

“I have no doubt Bill will be there protecting him. If Dipper is going to come back here; he’s going to have to make that decision himself.” Ford answered curtly. However, that didn’t sit with me. Stan had no choice but to stay because Ford would notice if he left, but I could sneak away. We gave each other a subtle nod. I took a walkie-talkie with me in case I ran into trouble; saying some parts of this forest lacked cell reception. 

I took off into the forest to look for my brother. How could we allow things to get so messed up like this? We let our guard down, and this is what happened. It’s as though our family is being ripped apart! To my surprise I didn’t have to walk far before I saw Dipper. He was walking back to the Shack, alone. 

“Dipper!” I shouted happily. I ran and hugged him; he didn’t return the hug. He sniffled and I could tell he had been crying. 

“I’m sorry, about everything. I should talk to Ford.” He mumbled into my shoulder. I pushed him away so I could look at him. His red puffy eyes made it clear that he had been crying; probably for a while. 

“Yeah, I bet Ford has a lot to say to you.” I grumbled. “Most importantly, sorry.” 

“He doesn’t need to say sorry. I should have warned him before. We should have came up with a plan to get rid of Bill before.” 

“As though that makes it okay for him to say what he said.” I protested. Dipper just walked around me with his head bowed. 

“I’m sorry I caused all of this.” 

“Dipper, you don’t have to say sorry. I know you didn’t mean for any of this.” I offered for comfort. 

“What do you think Bill will do? I chose my family over him. He’s not going to like that.” I hear Dipper mumble to himself. There was nothing I could say. What will Bill do? He’s too powerful for us to take care of ourselves, and with Dipper having part of Bill’s soul there is no way we can go through with Ford’s original plan. That would cast Dipper out of this dimension as well. 

(Dipper’s POV)

I felt hollow inside even though I knew this was the right decision. How could I even consider going with Bill to be a good idea? Though it hurt to see him like that. I know he feels betrayed because I can feel his emotions. 

~ Flashback ~

“Heya Pine Tree, you ready to come with me?” Bill showed up an hour after he left me alone. I still didn’t know what to say, but I would need to choose sooner or later. 

“I’m not going with you.” I told him. Bill laughed harshly.

“Are you sure about that?” His voice strained, as though he was hoping I was messing with him but could probably tell I wasn’t.

“Yes.” I said firmly. Trying to hide my indecision. “If I had to make a choice between you and family, it would be family every time.” I said it before I realized how full of crap that statement was, but I needed to stand firm or else Bill would try to persuade me, and that’s his specialty. I steeled my emotions and convinced myself this was the right decision. As long as I can convince myself this is the right decision Bill won’t be able to sense I’m lying. Anyways, what good would come from me going with him. I need to help Ford, and it isn’t like I could just leave Mabel or Stan or Soos or anyone else either.

“We both know you are lying. I mean, has your family always been there for you? I can be. I see everything, and it isn’t like I won’t be able to see you. Even if you do choose your family over me.” I could feel the threat in his words, but didn’t back down. I forced myself to stand up.

“Bill, I promise I will help Ford send you back to your own dimension.” I said this as I looked him right in the eyes. They looked to be swirling, like a storm was brewing behind those eyes. What am I doing? He could destroy the world! He can do whatever he wants to! As those thoughts started going through my head I notice him smirking. “I promise myself, I will make sure you get sent back for good.” 

“Pine Tree, let’s make a deal. If you come with me I will not hurt anyone. It could just be us. Anything you want, consider it yours. Anywhere you want to go, I can take you there. And no one will die.”

“If I help Ford we can make sure you can’t hurt anyone.”

“But will you make it in time?” I watched as Bill seemed to get more agitated. I was scared to continue this conversation; Bill wasn’t mad yet, but that was yet. However, I had to stand firm.

“We will make it in time.” I said sternly. Hoping to sound more confident than I really was. I turned and started walking back to the Mystery Shack.

“I doubt you’ll even be able to make it in time to save your precious family. I’d make it there and take care of them and be nowhere to be found before you could even run there.” Bill hissed. I jerked to a stop.

“You wouldn’t.” I turned to stare at him in shock. “No, you can’t. I’m sure of it, Ford would have set up a barrier for sure.” 

“But Pine Tree, I’m human now.” Bill countered. 

“I know my family wouldn’t be an easy target for you.” And with that I took off into the forest. I tried to keep my pace slow, but I was close to running before long. Bill wouldn’t do that, he couldn’t. He still cares about me, and he wouldn’t be able to hurt me like that, right? 

~ ~ ~

“Ford, what are we going to do now?” I asked as I entered the Shack. Grunkle Stan and Ford were sitting at the kitchen table. 

“Dipper, you made it back.” Ford said with a smile. 

“Yes.” I was guessing by how calm everything was Bill hadn’t stopped by. Honestly, I couldn’t feel him anymore. Since I got that part of his soul I could always feel when he was around or even far away, but now I didn’t feel anything. It was as though he vanished. All I could feel was the betrayal, but that was fading quickly. It’s as though he just disappeared. 

“Mabel explained the situation to me.” Ford said thoughtfully. “I don’t know what to do.” He said and then felt like adding. “There is nothing we can do.” Which didn’t make me feel any better. “As long as you are connected to Bill like that, anything we do to him will happen to you too.” 

“We should do what we can.” I begged. I had promised myself we would be able to get rid of Bill, and without that for comfort I could only feel hopeless, and scared. 

“I refuse to let anything bad happen to my great nephew while he is in my care.” Ford said and Stan agreed. I had been able to stop my crying before I got here, but now with this news it started again. Before anyone could see I ran up to the attic. Hoping to see a familiar face floating over my bed. Of course, there was no one to greet me in the attic. If I was going to be honest about this, which I won’t, I would say that it felt like I lost a piece of myself. And in a way, that was true. Bill has a piece of my soul, and he took that with him. I just hope that’s all he takes.

“Hey Dip-dot.” Mabel knocked on the door before entering. I was laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. At this moment I was missing the smell of pine trees. Where did Bill go? Why can’t I feel him anymore? Why does that scare me more than if he went on a rampage?

“Hi.” I said, less enthusiastically than I meant. Shouldn’t Bill be mad? Why can’t I feel his anger? 

“Dipper, are you going through broken hearted blues?” Mabel teased. The ‘broken hearted blues’ is what she started calling it whenever she broke up with a boyfriend or stopped talking to a crush or her relationship life was just going horribly in general.

“Yes.” I said honestly, it wasn’t like it was hard to tell. Especially for Mabel. She can tell whenever something is wrong with me, and will figure out what it is before I even know there’s something wrong sometimes. She’s just that way with people; she can tell what they need without them saying anything. 

“Do you remember what I would always do whenever I felt like that?”

“Eat ice cream and hang out with your friends?” 

“Yes, because that is what makes me happy. Now what makes you happy?” She asked, and that’s when I remembered. The journals. I ran to my backpack, and opened it, dumping its contents onto my bed. The journals were still there. It kind of felt like they were taunting me, but this was something that made me happy. Learning about the mysteries of Gravity Falls, or really anywhere now that I think about it. I’ve always wanted to travel to the pine barrens to investigate the Jersey Devil. It sounded like something similarly described in one of the journals and I always wanted to see if that is what it really is. “Where did you get those?” Mabel questioned from behind me. 

“Bill-” I couldn’t continue that sentence, but I felt like I needed to explain. “He gave them to me.” I explained. 

“How?” I looked at Mabel and she stopped being suspicious about it. “Never mind, let’s see what these books have to offer.” She added on a happy note. 

We spent most of the night reading about things in the journals. Most of them we encountered and already knew most of the information the book had to offer. Others I wanted to try and lure out so I could see it, but of course, that’s too dangerous. I stayed up looking through the journals all night while Mabel went to sleep after barely making it through an hour of my theories and hypotheses. For most of that night I was able to make the hollow feeling go away, but it kept nagging at me. It was like a red flag going off, but forced myself to ignore it. At least for tonight.


	21. Chapter 21

(Dipper’s POV)

Mabel and I’s birthday came and went, and with it the rest of the summer. We started packing the day before to make it to the bus ride home. I made sure to keep the journals out of Ford’s sight. Stan had walked in on me reading one of them, but he didn’t seem to have told Ford. And the journal Ford had given me at the start of the year was still almost completely empty. 

“Dipper, don’t worry about anything while you are back home. We can handle this.” Stan said to me as we waited by the bus stop. I knew he was talking about Bill, but I wasn’t worried about that. I still felt hollow. He was gone. I don’t know where he is, but he’s not anywhere I can sense him. 

“Got it.” I answered. Even as the days went by and I felt like I had to tell them this, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just wrote it off as me missing him. 

“Now don’t forget to get all A’s and fill out that journal. I have high hopes for you.” Ford said. Trying his hardest to sound happy. Which wasn’t something we saw often now that Bill was free. 

“Don’t worry about his grades grunkle Ford. You have basically been tutoring him all summer. He’d be able to pass college classes.” Mabel said while laughing. That was the one thing that really made me forget about all of this for a little while. Ford started tutoring me as a way to get his mind off of Bill, and it seemed to help us both. Before we could say anymore goodbyes the bus pulled up, and Mabel and I rushed into the back seat. 

As we left Gravity Falls I felt as though I had forgotten something, but I had triple checked my bag. I even had a check list and I had checked off everything on the list. I still felt like I was missing something though. That’s when I got an inspiration to begin writing in my journal. I began writing down the events of the summer, so I knew I would never forget them. For all I know this might come in handy in case another demon takes the same way here Bill did. The more we can learn from the mistakes we make the better we will be prepared the next time around. I just hope there won’t be a next time.

(Jessa’s POV)

“Why can’t you just listen to my advice every once in awhile?” I complained. I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get a response. Bill has been unresponsive for months in human time. He obviously wasn’t taking the rejection well, and was trying to make a new plan. Him and his stupid plans. If he didn’t feel the need to have to continue to take his anger out on Dipper’s family then they could be happy together, but no, for him revenge is necessary. There is only one way I can get him to listen to me. Offer a solution for his problem. One he would accept. 

I left Bill to his thoughts as I went looking for Dipper. He needs to be warned. When I saw him he was almost passed out in the back of a bus. Talk about disgusting. This bus looked like it needed some extra powerful cleaning. Even I wouldn’t be able to clean it. Before that image could sink into my mind I entered Dipper’s. I met him in his mindscape. 

“Dipper, how are you doing?” I can’t start the conversation with ‘your family might die because you decided to leave Bill and he’s falling apart because of it.’ 

“What are you doing here?” He asked suspiciously. I rolled my eyes. It’s kind of funny how similar those two are. 

“I just wanted to say hello, and give you a warning you should pass on to Stan and Ford.” Now, I’m not a huge fan of them either, but this is for Dipper’s and Bill’s sake. If Bill kills them then Dipper will never forgive him, and that really puts a damper on my plans. “Bill’s planning again, and he doesn’t seem to be taking your rejection well. Not a surprise because in thousands of years you are the only one who caught his eye.” I added and rolled my eyes. Why do these two have to be so complicated. Things wouldn’t have ended like this if Bill had listened to me before. I noticed Dipper blush at the last comment I made. That let me relax a little; at least he still liked Bill. Otherwise I really would have my work cut out for me. “Anyways, you need to warn Ford to either fake his own death, or hide.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

 

“Because I am trying to get you idiots to stop being so stupid and get together already. Things wouldn’t have gotten this bad if you stayed with Bill.” I mumbled. It would be easier to talk to him too. And I would be able to get him to understand how stupid this whole revenge thing is. 

“Bill’s still here?” 

“Of course you idiot.” Before I could say anymore I was ripped from Dipper’s mindscape. A large bump had woken him up. 

(Dipper’s POV)

I was pulled out of my deep sleep when a bump in the road made me fall out of my seat. I couldn’t remember what I had been dreaming, but it felt like it was important. Oh well, if it really is important I will remember it sometime. I started looking out of the window, and for a second thought I saw someone else’s face looking back at me. I couldn’t tell who it was though. It had probably just been my imagination. Then I could of swore I heard a voice, but Mabel and I were the only ones here. This bus is just too weird. 

(Jessa’s POV)

“Dipper, don’t forget what I told you.” I tried to say so he would hear me, but I doubt he would be able to. Reluctantly I went back to Bill. If only Bill hadn’t felt the need to force me back into the nightmare realm, and on top of that he took my power from me! I could continue to rant about all the times he was unnecessarily mean to me, but now is not the time. 

“Bill, I think I have a plan you would approve of.” I said to him. He turned to face me with an unamused expression. So I started to explain my plan, and he nodded along, considering what I was telling him. 

“That is a pretty good plan. Seems you’ve learned a lot from all the time you spent with me.” Was all he said before turning around. That’s when I realized there was more things wrong here than a hit on his ego. He’s not mad, he’s hurt. I have no idea what to do in this situation. I’ve been by his side for as long as I can remember, but I’ve never seen him hurt. Not once. This is going to make things more complicated. I’m going to have to take some time to think about this.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I recently found the original plan for this story, and let me just say it has veered off that path long ago.   
> Also, I apologize of all of the OC's but I need them, and most of them won't make it to the last chapter anyways ;)

(Intro)

It’s been a full year since the events at Gravity Falls and Mabel and Dipper’s last year of high school is about to start. Stan and Ford have not found anything new on Bill’s whereabouts or what to do if they find him. Dipper still hasn’t felt any different from the day he left Gravity Falls. During the summer he completed his own journal. It is mainly filled with the knowledge he received over that one summer. And as for Mabel, well, she’s finally got a steady relationship going. 

(Dipper’s POV)

Today is the first day of our last year of high school. Part of me was excited for school to start, the summer gives me too much free time to think of things I probably shouldn’t. Especially since I had finished filling out that journal Ford had given me. Some pages were just filled with random theories, but most of it was on theories of how that dimension travel Bill took really works. I never asked him about it, but I was able to talk to Ford about it; though he didn’t seem to know much more than I do.

“Dipper, hurry up. I’m not waiting for you all day.” Mabel shouted to me from the doorway. She was very impatient, but that was because we were supposed to meet up with her boyfriend before school. Whenever she said his name I would always end up rolling my eyes. I, myself, wasn’t a big fan of him. However, it seemed as though everyone else likes him. So I tried to be as nice to him as I could manage.

“Well it’s not going to take me all day.” I responded as I started walking down the stairs to the front door. Mabel was waiting for me there. “You don’t have to wait for me you know.” 

“It wouldn’t feel right if I just left you behind.” She said crossing her arms. 

“Whatever.” I mumbled. We started walking to school. I knew we would run into Mabel’s boyfriend any minute now. 

“Josh!” She cheered. I didn’t even turn to look at him. Now, normally I would be supportive of my sister and at least act like I like the person she’s dating, but Josh. We’ve never had much of an interaction, but there was just something about him that I didn’t trust. 

“Hey Mabel. Dipper.” He really was nice enough, but still.

“Hey.” I answered. Just because I didn’t like him doesn’t mean I was going to ruin Mabel’s relationship, right? 

“Hey Dipper!” I heard a familiar voice yell from behind me. It was Oliver. He had become my friend last year; I mean I’ve known him for a while, but he wouldn’t even say hi to me until last year. 

“What are you doing here?” He lived on the other side of town so it was weird to see him here, unless something important happened. Though normally he would only text me. Not show up randomly.

“I was hoping I would be able to stop by before you left and give you this. Obviously, I didn’t make it in time.” He said and held out a notebook. We bonded on our mutual appreciation for the paranormal, and he happily helped me with my journal over the summer. Though, I found it strange he didn’t call me crazy when I told him about Bill and the weirdmaggeddon. I had thought for sure that he would never talk to me again when I told him those things, but he surprised me. For a while after that I was suspicious of him, but after all of my testing he seemed to just be a very superstitious person. Or didn’t care if he was friends with a crazy person.

“What is it?” I asked as he walked beside me. 

“I think I figured out how the dimension travel worked.” Oliver said. He was surprisingly smart, and we had been working on this or a while, but we hadn’t been able to figure out that important detail on how Bill had gotten here. The last time he made it to this dimension it took a lot of power and planning, but the second time seemed a little too easy. Like there was a cheat to dimension travel hidden somewhere. I wasn’t lucky enough to be able to read his notes or understand what he was doing in the memories I received from him. Most of his notes were in a language I had never seen before; which wasn’t too surprising.

“Seriously?” I grabbed the notebook from him and started looking it over. There was so much information in his notebook it was hard to find the stuff related to what he was telling me. He grabbed it back from me and flipped it to the page. By now I had completely forgotten school, and Mabel with her boyfriend standing next to us.

“Well of course it’s just a guess. I mean, I wasn’t there and we weren’t able to do any tests. Nor can we actually ask him how he did it.” There was only one or so details I left out about the whole weirdmageddon and from that other summer, I didn’t tell Oliver Bill’s name, and maybe some few details on how close we really were. I couldn’t bring myself to say it when I was around him. 

“Dip-dot, can you stop looking at that nerdy stuff for a minute. I have to tell you something.” Mabel said and took the notebook from me and handed it back to Oliver; who took it and started walking away from me. The only problem with Oliver was that he would always side with my sister. I playfully glared at him while he walked away. 

“What is it?” I asked. We were only a few feet from the entrance to the school by now. Before Mabel could tell me what she wanted to say she was interrupted by someone bumping into her. The person that ran into her jumped and squeaked.

“Sorry!” The girl said before running off. 

“I don’t think I’ve seen her here before.” Mabel said excitedly. “Do you think she’s a new student? In our grade!” She always had to make friends with the new students in our school. 

“Maybe.” I said. I had never seen her around before, though, I didn’t really pay attention to who was even in my classes anymore. 

“I’m going to say hi.” Mabel said and left me. 

I sat down in my first class. As always, the first one. I had lost Oliver when we made it into the school, and I didn’t know if I should go and look for him. Maybe we have the same first hour. We haven’t talked about our schedules yet. Once the five minute bell rang a few students started trickling into the classroom. Most of them I knew, and I wasn’t too surprised to find it was all of the ‘smart’ kids at my school. Since most of my classes are college level classes I wouldn’t be surprised if I shared a lot of classes with these students. Thankfully, Oliver was one of them, unfortunately, I knew this was the only class I would share with him. Math was the only thing he was into, and this being calculus, it was his specialty. I did a subtle wave to get his attention and he plowed into the desk next to me. What did surprise me was that the girl I didn’t recognize before was in this class as well. She had dark brown hair and tan skin, and I couldn’t help but feel like I know her. Though I knew for sure I have never seen her before. 

“Hey, there’s one of the new girls. I didn’t think we would have any classes with either of them.” Oliver said. ‘One’? ‘Either’?

“New girls?” I asked him. 

“Yeah, I saw them talking in the hallways. Maybe we’ll get lucky and share a class with both of them.” Oliver said excitedly. I rolled my eyes at him. He always did this; whenever there was a new student he would try and befriend them. Or at least get to know all he felt he needed to know about them. I don’t understand why he did that, but it was a habit of his. In fact Mabel was the same in that sense. They are a lot alike when you really think about it. Thankfully, Oliver was more controlled and not so energetic. 

“Yeah, sure.” I said happily, not wanting to ruin his happy mood. 

“I’m gonna say hi.” Oliver said that as he stood up and crossed the room to talk to the new girl. It was hard for me not to laugh; Mabel had just said that to me when she wanted to talk to the new girl. They really are alike. I was surprised when he made it back before the bell rang. 

“What happened?” I asked just as the bell rang. He didn’t get a chance to answer me.

It was a happy surprise that there wasn’t one of those ‘get to know your peers and the layout of the class’ day. I had always dreaded the first day because of all of the ice breaker games teachers would come up with. It’s like they enjoy coming up with unique ways to torture students. Even better, most of my classes were like that. Until the last hour that is. Gym class. Which didn’t even have the same ‘get to know your peers’ day. It was just a game day.

“Look!” Oliver said excitedly. I hadn’t seen him since first hour, but I was happy to have him for moral support. I would never have taken this class if I didn’t need the credit to graduate. “They both are here.” I looked at where he was pointing to see the new girl I had seen in first hour, April, as Oliver had informed me, and a different girl with her. I was immediately intimidated by April’s friend. I didn’t know if it was because she was clearly a foot taller than me at least or if it was because she looked about ready to rip someone’s head off; even with her petite figure. Oliver waved to them and April started prancing towards us; pulling her scary friend with her. It was an interesting sight, seeing them side by side. They seemed to be opposites.

“Hi! This is great, you finally get to meet my friend, Bella.” April motioned towards her friend. 

“Why is this mandatory? You learn nothing from this class.” Bella said, ignoring us; looking around the gymnasium. 

“I know, right!” Oliver sympathised. Bella didn’t seem interested in him. In fact, she hasn’t looked at us the whole time. The teacher started calling off names, and class officially began. There was about thirty kids in this class, and most of them were athletes. Since today was a game day, the other students in the class picked dodgeball for the game. The teams were chosen, and as always I was the last picked. That didn’t bother me; I didn’t really participate in the games anyways.

“Help me.” Oliver mouthed as he walked over to other side of the gym with his team. It was an interesting occurrence that both April and Bella were on my team. 

 

“What is this game?” April asked. 

“You don’t know what dodgeball is?” I ask surprised. 

“No.” She looked at me innocently. 

“April, it’s self explanatory. You dodge the balls the other team throws at you, and throw them back.” Bella did a bad job at explaining. 

“Well yeah, if you get hit by a ball you’re out, if you catch the ball thrown at you the person that threw it is out. Same happens the other way around too.” I explained in more detail, and April nodded in understanding. 

“Sounds easy enough.” She said. 

The game started and I was lucky enough to dodge most of the balls thrown in my general direction. April was just watching how the game was played, and Bella, well she was getting people out left and right. Soon the competitive people realized she was a valuable player and they started working together. So it was just me and April in a side corner standing and doing nothing. 

“She’s good.” I muttered to myself. 

“Yeah, she’s really competitive. If there’s ever a competition you want her on your team. She refuses to lose.” April said cheerfully. “So, Dipper, Oliver was telling me about some weird thing you were doing. Researching a portal to another dimension. Or something like that.” 

“Oh.” I was taken aback by the question. I had made things clear to Oliver that I didn’t want him to tell other people about that, and for the most part he was good at not telling anyone. “Well, it’s kind of complicated.” I said; hoping that would be the end of that conversation. 

“Well it sounds like it would be.” April smiled at me before picking up a ball that had rolled in front of her and throwing it, nailing Oliver in the gut. “Ops, looks like I threw that a little too hard.” She laughed lightly. The game was over in just a couple minutes. 

When the next game started it seemed as though Bella and April switched places. Bella was standing next to me and April was kicking butt. I didn’t know where I would rather be, on the receiving side of this one sided game or standing next to Bella. She wasn’t talking, but was observing. It looked as though April was her focus of attention. 

“So, where did you move here from?” I decided to try and get her to talk. 

“Indonesia.” She answered without looking away from April. 

“Oh, cool.” I said. Things went quiet again. “How do you like school here so far?” I asked; hoping to get a conversation started.

“There’s too much complaining. It’s annoying.” Bella said before surprising me. “So, Dipper, do you ever miss Gravity Falls?” 

“W-what?” I turned to look at her. Her expression didn’t change, and I couldn’t tell if I heard her correctly or not. She did speak with somewhat of an accent; which made it hard to understand her sometimes. 

“I asked if you-” Before Bella could finish the sentence April ran up and tackled her. 

“That’s what you get for not paying attention!” April said as she jumped up. Taking a moment to laugh at the surprised expression on her friend’s face. 

“I hate you.” Bella said while looking up at the ceiling. 

“That’s payback for freaking me out this morning.” April added and smiled at me. I just stood there in shock. That ended that conversation and the school day.


	23. Chapter 23

(Dipper’s POV)

I met Mabel outside of the school, and wasn’t very surprised that April and Bella were with her. She always befriended the new students; what was a surprise was that Oliver wasn’t there. Shouldn’t he be annoying them just as much as Mabel. I turned around to start walking, just as Mabel got within five steps of me, and jumped back instantly. Oliver was standing behind me. I hadn’t even heard him walk up behind me. I’m getting careless! Even when Bill is still missing. I should be smarter than that. Oliver started laughing at my reaction.

“Shut up.” I said and started walking without him.

“Aw, come on. What happened to leaving no one behind?” He joked.

“You, I can leave behind.” I jokingly responded. 

(Mabel’s POV)

“So, how do you like school here so far?” I asked the new girls who happily agreed to hang out with me after school. I loved helping the new kids get adjusted to our weird school system and make friends quickly. Which April didn’t seem to have a problem with. She was talking with almost everyone, but Bella was more quiet and... antisocial. 

“It’s fun.” April answered. “Though I am confused on what homecoming is.” This year homecoming was surprisingly early, and was in only two weeks after the start of school. Since I’m on the committee to set it up I was freaking out about it.

“It’s a party for the football teams first home game.” I answered. 

“That sounds like something stupid to celebrate.” April said with her brows furrowed. 

“Well it’s a party nonetheless, and that’s all that matters to me.” I put my hands on my hips and marched ahead into the house to grab some snacks before either of them could make it to the door. I returned quickly and lead them inside, offering them the snacks as they entered. Dipper and his friend were already locked up in his room. I rolled my eyes and lead April and Bella to my room. I heard Bella and April say something to each other, but couldn’t understand it. “So, what do you two want to know?” 

“Why is there a pig in your room?” Bella asked; noticing Waddles. 

“This is the one I care most about in life. Waddles.” I picked him up; even though he had gotten pretty big over the years. I had been able to potty train him and that’s the only reason my parents allowed him inside. 

“A pig?” April asked skeptically. 

“Of course a pig, silly.” I set him down and he waddled right out of the room. “Now then, let’s get onto a more interesting topic. See any boys you like?” I poked April with my elbow, but Bella was too far away for me to do the same to her. 

“Dipper.” Bella said surprisingly fast. I looked at her and shook my head.

“Dipper’s not into girls, sorry.” I didn’t know how else to put it. 

“And I’m not into humans, but here we are.” She said blankly. I stared at her, unsure of what to think until April started laughing.

“What?” I asked her. Hoping to get an explanation from her. 

“It’s a pretty good joke. You see, Bella’s asexual and aromantic, so she doesn’t really ‘like’ anyone on average. That’s why she said that.” April explained and I started understanding why it was funny. 

“Got it.” I said and laughed a little. Just as I was about to start more of a conversation the phone rang, and I heard my father pick it up. 

“We should get going.” April suddenly said. “We have a lot of boxes to unpack and a lot of furniture to move.” 

“Okay, see you tomorrow?” I asked. Today was Friday, strangely enough. I don’t understand why they wanted the first day of school to be a Friday, but that’s how it was set up, and as a student there was nothing I could do about it.

“At the park?” April asked.

“Which park?” 

“The one closest to your house. I thought I saw one just over there.” April explained and pointed in the direction of the nearest park that I visited regularly.

“Okay.” I nodded. “When?” 

“Is three okay?” April said after getting a nod from Bella. 

“Yeah, of course.” The two walked out the front door as I heard my father hang up the phone. 

“Dipper, Mabel! We need to have a family meeting.” My father called. I heard Dipper’s door open, and saw Oliver walking down the stairs. It looked like he had been sitting upside down for the past half hour. Which he probably had been. That’s how he normally plays video games. I don’t know how he didn’t die right away in the game like that. 

“Later!” He called and waved to Dipper as he left the house. Pausing to say goodbye to me first. Sometimes I wish I could meddle in Dipper’s love life and just get them together already. Oliver had told me before that he likes Dipper, but still hasn’t done anything about it. I would, if it wasn’t for Bill. We haven’t heard about anything strange happening from Ford that could explain his whereabouts, but he was still out there. And I don’t know how he would like it if he found out Dipper was dating someone. So it was safer just to let this frustrating friendship play out.

I walked into the kitchen to meet up with the rest of the family. The first thing I saw was my mom crying, and that’s when I knew this news wasn’t going to be good. I looked to my dad who looked upset, but was keeping his composure. However, that wouldn’t last long. 

“I know you two are going to take this news pretty bad, but remember you have people who care about you.” My father started. I looked to Dipper, and he was looking at me. We were both thinking the same thing. “Your great uncles. Stanley and Stanford got in a car accident. They didn’t make it.” Dipper didn’t waste any time in running to his room. I followed close behind. He picked up his phone; which he barely used. Except to get into contact with people from Gravity Falls. There was a voicemail on it. From Ford. Dipper started playing it. The audio was clear. 

“Dipper, it’s Bill, I finally found him. Or maybe I should say he found me. He never left Gravity Falls. I think he might finally be-” The message cut short, and we weren’t able to hear anything else. We sat in silence for a few moments.

“What happened to them?” Dipper muttered. 

“Do you think Bill-”

“No, it couldn’t have been Bill.” I looked at Dipper, he looked certain that Bill didn’t do it. I wasn’t so sure though. 

“Dipper.”

“It wasn’t Bill. If it was I would know. I would feel it. If something changed I would feel it.” He sounded sure of himself, but I was also sure he wasn’t over the breakup. I guess it would be hard to leave the demon that had a part of your soul. 

“And you sure you haven’t felt a change?” I asked. 

“Yes, I’m certain of it.” Dipper rushed to the journals he had stacked on his bookshelf. “There are a number of things in Gravity Falls that could have caused that. Or it could have even been a complete accident.” 

“But why would his message be about Bill if those two things were related.” 

“They don’t have to be related. They don’t.” I noticed Dipper was shaking now. I left the room to make an important call. He needs someone there that can help him. Someone that will want to be there for him.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I have some bad news for those of you reading this. My hand is in a brace now, so updating and typing is going to be hard for me for the next week or so. It might take me longer to update until I am able to get this stupid thing off. Also it's quite ironic, but I have this brace on because of dodge-ball.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry if the events start feeling rushed. I just NEED to get back to the Billdip!

(Dipper’s POV)

I didn’t know what to do or think. Stan and Ford couldn’t be dead. They couldn’t. There wasn’t any reason for this to happen now, and Bill. How did they find him? What was he doing? Is he okay? Since I left Gravity Falls I have been worried about what happened to Bill, and what he will do when he finally comes to find me. I know it is going to happen. I know it because I know him. I have been flipping through the pages of the journals, but eventually gave up. There wouldn’t be anything in there anyways. I layed down on my bed and finally started processing the situation. 

Stand and Ford are dead.

They found Bill.

Ford was unable to tell us what he wanted to say about Bill. Other than he was still in Gravity Falls at the time of their accident. But by now he could be anywhere.

What are Mabel and I going to do about this? Somehow we need to find out what happened, and there was only one thing I could think to do. It was to ask Bill. If he was there he might know what happened. However, I don’t feel any change from him. Something had to have happened. I started focusing on the connection I have to Bill, and I couldn’t feel anything different. But for one second I thought I felt something. However, that could have just been my mind making it up. That’s most likely what it was.

“Hey, Dipper. Can I come in?” The voice that was outside my door was a surprise. What is he doing here? 

“Sure.” I said and sat up. Oliver walked into my room. 

“Um, Mabel told me what happened.” He said nervously as Mabel slammed the door behind him. Making him jump. “She can be way too hyper at times.” He joked. 

“Yep.” I nodded in agreement. Also, she was probably just as hurt as I am right now. She’s better at handling these things though. Which makes me wonder; why would she tell Oliver what happened?

“Anyways, do you want to talk about it, or something?” Oliver said as he took a seat next to me on my bed. 

“It’s just really confusing right now. I mean, even though Stan was a reckless driver I know he was smart enough to not crash. And Ford drove like a grandma. Never going over the speed limit. It just doesn’t make sense that they would crash. And on top of that just before they died Ford left a voicemail saying he found Bill.” I paused right after I said it. Bill, I have tried so hard not to say his name around Oliver, but now it’s out. I don’t know why it felt wrong; it just did. 

“Bill?” 

“That’s the dream demon I told you about.”

“He has a name? Why didn’t you tell me that before?” I put my hands over my eyes. 

“Because there are some things you shouldn’t know.” Was all I could say. I didn’t feel like adding that that name has power over me. Whenever I heard or said that name memories flooded through my mind. Some were my own, but most were his.

“What do you mean?” I hadn’t told him about Bill and I. I didn’t tell him about the soul bond we had. How I felt about him. I just couldn’t. “Dipper, what aren’t you telling me?” Oliver started to sound agitated. I’m going to have to tell him now. I started talking, and I can’t stop now. 

“Bill and I have a soul bond of sorts. I didn’t tell you that because I felt like it was too weird for you to understand. On top of that,-” The words got caught in my throat. 

“What? What else is there?” 

“On top of that, I loved him.” I had to think about what I was saying while I said it. It felt like a brick was resting on my chest, but that wasn’t what I was concerned about. It was the person sitting next to me that would decide how things went from here.

“How? How could you love him when he hurt all of those people? Tried to destroy the world?” 

“I don’t know. It’s because, in some ways we are alike.” 

“How are you anything like him?” 

“We both are constantly searching for new knowledge. We’re both nerds.” I laughed a little. It was true, but somehow there was more to it. I didn’t know what it was, but it was there. 

“Dipper, there are a lot of nerds out there. There’s a lot of people like you in that sense.” 

“But how many people see that kind of paranormal stuff in one summer, twice.”

“As far as I know, only you.” Oliver said adding in a laugh. I smiled. 

“Yeah, I guess.” 

“But you said before that they found Bill? He was missing?” It seemed I left a lot out when I told Oliver what happened over the summer. 

“Yeah, so basically near the end of that summer since we couldn’t find a way to get rid of him because the soul bond kept anything bad from happening to him because it would happened to me too; I was forced to decide between my family and him. Needless to say I chose my family, and he disappeared.”

“Sounds like he didn’t take that well.” Oliver joked. 

“That’s what I’m scared of. If he gets mad and goes on a rampage we won’t be able to stop him. So far I haven’t felt anything that felt like anger from him, but I know he has a short temper.” I said and we sat in silence for a little while. The silence was awkward and I could tell Oliver had something he wanted to say. Just when he opened his mouth to speak and I thought he was going to say it, he surprised me and pulled me closer to him. For a second our lips met and there was a swirling in my stomach. “Oliver, what did I just say?! Short temper? Does that not worry you. With a snap of his fingers you could become diced meat.” I pulled away from him. 

“You did also say he was in Gravity Falls.”

“All powerful demon, he doesn’t need to be here to know what’s going on.” I whispered fiercely. “Anyways with the soul bond it shouldn’t be too hard for him.”

“He’s not all powerful.” Oliver said and rolled his eyes. “Anyways I’m not scared of him.” I paused and realized there was a change in that empty pit for emotions. That was were the swirling was coming from. Did he see what happened? I really hope not. 

“You should be. If he killed Stan and Ford, then that means he will kill anyone.” 

“But not you.” 

“Of course not me.” I answered. Wouldn’t that be obvious? How does that help Oliver anyways?

“Dipper, you need to calm down. Stop worrying so much.” 

“Worrying is what I do best. You haven't seen me get worked up at all yet. Just ask Mabel, she’ll tell you how bad it gets.” 

“Okay, I will.” Oliver said that and started getting closer to me again. When he started leaning in for the kiss I instinctively punched him. Of course I knew it wouldn’t hurt, bad. Not like I was going to all out punch my friend, but it got him to back off. After that happened I started feeling giddy and started laughing. Bill, what’s going on with him. It was like a surge of energy. Please tell me he doesn’t know what’s going on. I can’t guarantee protection for Oliver. “Are you alright?” Oliver started getting worried.

“It’s Bill.” I said between laughs. I really look crazy now.

“Should I get Mabel?” he asked. I shook my head no. It wouldn’t help. Within a minute the laughing stopped, but I felt so energized that I could run a marathon or two. Honestly, I felt amazing.

“It seems as though after two years Bill has finally become active again. Maybe I’m feeling this way because he has so much stored energy. I mean it’s as though I chugged two energy drinks at once. I want to do something. We should go to the park.” I hopped up off my bed. 

“It’s midnight.” 

“So? Let’s go. We just need to be quiet and don’t wake anyone up.” I said quickly and headed towards my door. I felt like laughing when I turned to see the conflicted expression Oliver had. He looked at me like I was crazy, and that didn’t bother me. Something was leading me to that park and I wasn’t about to miss it. Something interesting was about to happen.

“You might be able to meet Bill.” I said and opened the door. A part of me was sure he was there. I was being drawn there for some reason, and I didn’t know what else would be doing that. 

“Wait, maybe we shouldn’t go. I mean if Bill’s there then wouldn’t that be a bad idea?” 

“I thought you weren’t scared of him.” 

“I’m not.” He said offended. 

“Then let’s go.” 

We walked outside in the darkness. It was nice, and I was anxious to make it to the park. It felt like it was taking forever, but it had to have been only two minutes. When we got there it looked empty. Until the light of a screen lit up a part of the playground. I started pulling Oliver behind a tree near some bushes.

“What are we even doing here?” I heard a female’s voice. 

“April?” Oliver said surprised. 

“Because I need to get out and do something. Oh, I know!” I recognized the second voice because she was much louder than April. It was Bella. In the dark light I could see her moving, but just before she could finish what she wanted to do she stopped. “There’s someone here. Hmm, should I turn them into a-” She said. At first I thought she was talking about us, but she started heading in the other direction. 

“No!” April scolded.

“Fine, I’ll just make them disappear.”

“Stop! You can’t just make people disappear.” 

“Of course I can.”

“I mean you shouldn’t. Anyways, he’ll know something was up if you do that. He’s not stupid you know.” 

“Fine.” Bella threw her hands up in defeat and went back to what she was doing before this time hidden from sight. The only thing I could see was a flash of light. Then a whole bunch of spiders rushed out from where she was standing. 

“Let’s see how they like these.” Bella said. April picked up one of the spiders. 

“That’s disgusting. Two headed spiders, really?” 

“Two times the biting power.” 

“You’re so immature.” April said exasperated. 

“Is he gone yet?” 

“No, he’s hanging out behind that building.” April nodded in the direction of the restroom, or outhouse is what it should be called. I decided to follow the direction she pointed in to see who they were talking about. I didn’t tell Oliver what I was doing, but he followed me silently. Once we got far enough away he started freaking out.

“Did you see what just happened? Spiders, freaking spiders! I hate spiders! I swear if I see one of those things in my house I am burning it down. Two headed spiders, what the hell?!” I hushed him as we made our way around the building. There was a male figure leaning against the side of the building. Every once in awhile there would be an orange glow. He was smoking. “Smoking’s not good for you.” Oliver chided quietly. 

“I realize. Do you plan on trying to stop me?” The man responded. How did he hear him? I walked out from behind the bushes. Why keep hiding when we’ve been found out?

“At least you shouldn’t be smoking here.” I said. This was a park where kids played.

“Why? It’s not like there are kids here.” As I got closer to the man I noticed he wasn’t much older than me. He might actually be the same age.

“I’m a kid.” I said, not really meaning it.

“No, you’re not. Anyways, I’m guessing you’re as old as me. Which means I don’t care.” He blew smoke right into my face. 

“What if I’m not?”

“Well how old are you?”

“Seventeen, still officially a kid.” I said the last part sarcastically.

“See, you’re the same age as me. So I still don’t care.” 

“Really?” I said skeptically. He didn’t look seventeen. Then again the lighting was all wrong and I couldn’t get a good look at him. I was just judging by height. And unfortunately for me and my bad genes I was shorter than about everyone it felt like. Though I have been assured I was ‘normal’ height.

“Yes really. I’m guessing you go to the high school here. I look forward to seeing you there. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to leave before those weird girls show up.” Weird girls? The stranger walked away, slowly. Then I looked down from where he was standing and noticed something glowing. It was most likely a spell bag from the looks of it. An old piece of cloth tied at the top with string, with writing on it. I didn’t know if I should touch it or not, but that was decided for me as April and Bella walked up to us. I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, but it felt right. I threw the bag at them and a burst of light filled the area. 

When I was able to open my eyes again I was in my room. Oliver was beside me and looked pretty freaked out. 

“What, the, hell, was that?!” 

“The new girls seem to be special.” But who was that guy? Why wasn’t he there on the first day?

“You think? How did we get back here though?” 

“That bag was a spell bag. I’m guessing it was to send anyone who was near enough to it someplace else. Wherever that might be. That was a very powerful spell. I need to talk to him.” I need to know how he learned to make that, and see what else he could do.

“I think I’m going to go home, and rethink my life.” Oliver said blankly. Then seemed to remember the spiders. “Actually, I’m staying here tonight.” he said and flopped down onto my bed.

“I thought you would be excited to see all of those events.” I teased.

“Well talking about it and seeing it are two completely different things.” He had that right. I grabbed an empty journal I had bought before and started filling out what I had seen today. I’m guessing Oliver won’t be talking to the new girls anymore. At least there’s still Mabel. I hope they didn’t recognize us.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well you lucky ducks, I hope you are happy I am still going to update. A few days before I got the brace on my hand I had been on a writing spree, so I have a few more chapters written up. Now all I have to do is edit them and post them. Which I might do conservatively so you don't go a long time without updates. (Yeah right, I never can hold back from updating. And it's all your fault. With your comments, motivating me to keep this story updated.)

(Dipper’s POV)

In the end I stayed up all night, but I still felt like I had a full weeks worth of energy. I didn’t realize until the sun went up that we should have went back to the park to find the spell bag. Which is why I woke up Oliver early. We needed to get there before anyone else could. If I find what is in it, that might give me an idea of how to make one of my own. 

“Hey Ollie, get up.” I said and threw a journal at him. With it’s hard cover he woke up instantly and groaned. 

“Don’t call me that.” 

“Let’s go. I’m not going back to that park alone. Unless you refuse, and I won’t be able to guarantee I will make it back.” 

“Why? It’s freaking six in the morning, on a weekend. Go to sleep.”

“I can’t.” I said and started walking out of my room. Oliver reluctantly followed. He was obviously tired, and I remember how funny it was the first time I saw him that tired. He looked ready to murder someone, but he would barely even react if you hit him. I tested him to see what he would do a while ago; it was quite entertaining for me.

When we made it behind the outhouse where we were last night I was happy to see that the bag was still there. I rushed to pick it up, but just before my hand reached it something cold touched my throat. It didn’t take long for me to realize what it was. There was a knife being held to my throat.

“Thanks for finding that for me. Now if I were you I would back up before your lose something.” A man’s voice said.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I heard Oliver say threateningly. I stepped back to find that it was the guy who had left it there last night. The one that made it. When I was looking at him in the sunlight I noticed how light his hair and eyes were, blonde and blue. 

“How did you make that?”

“That’s a family secret.” He said and lowered the knife as he picked up the bag.

“How did you learn to make that?” I decided to prod for any answer I could get.

“Family. Secret.” He repeated. 

“What’s your name? Why weren’t you at school on the first day?” 

“So many questions.” He rolled his eyes. “You might as well follow me so this interrogation doesn’t have to be public.” He said that, but there was no one else here. “The spiders.” He pointed up, and the tree we were standing next to was filled with abnormally large spiders. Oliver moved away from the tree and whimpered.

“Okay.” I said and motioned for him to lead the way. 

We didn’t walk far, and I was surprised when he walked into a very expensive looking house. Now normally I try not to judge, but he didn’t seem to fit the area he was living in. Rude to think, but maybe the spells have something to do with it. 

“Were you able to find that pouch you so carelessly left?” A voice said as we entered the house. The inside looked better than the outside. Which was saying something. It looked like a million dollar house, and probably was one.

“Of course. Though, I have some problems.” The guy responded as a different man walked into the room. He seemed to growl at the sight of me; which didn’t make me feel welcome.

“Yes, you do.” He said. “Just take care of them, and try to keep them out of my sight. And don’t try anything on the Pines kid.” with that he left.

“How did he know my last name?” I asked.

“Well that makes things easier for me. I’m Noah by the way.” He said and shook hands with me. He walked up to Oliver, but didn’t shake hands with him. He tossed some powder into his face.

“What was that?!” I shouted. 

“Don’t worry. He just won’t remember last night.” Noah shrugged as Oliver stood blank. “Now then, about that bag. It’s just a simple spell that he taught me.” Noah pointed with his thumb to where the other man had stood just a few moments before. “He taught me everything I know. Well, when it comes to spells and stuff anyways. But is your last name really Pines? As in Dipper Pines?”

“Yes.” I said, not sure about what he was going to do.

“Hmm.” Noah nodded, but didn’t say anything. “You should probably leave.” He started pushing me out of the house.

“Why?”

“Dipper! What are you doing here?” April shouted and ran down the grand staircase that lead to the front door. She pulled me from Noah and hugged me tightly. Oliver seemed to have gotten out of his daze, and Noah was talking to him; most likely coming up with an explanation as to why he had a sudden loss in memory. However, I couldn’t hear what he was saying over April spinning me in circles.

“I should ask you the same thing.” I tried to say as she spun me around.

“Oh, yeah. Well, that’s a long story.” She giggled. “Anyways, you shouldn’t be here! On top of that, you shouldn’t be with him.” April glared at Oliver. “You should read this sometime.” She said while handing me a hard cover journal. It’s cover was completely black, and it looked as though it was made of ashes. “It’s important that you do it.” 

“Why?” 

“You’ll see when you start reading it, stupid.” She gently pushed me. “Now out. Both of you.” April started shooing us out of the house.

(April’s POV)

“Are you sure that was the best decision? You didn’t consult Bella before giving him that journal.” Noah complained after I had kicked Dipper and his ‘friend’ out of the house.

“Come on, if I waited to get her approval all of the time then nothing would progress. I need this over with as soon as possible. We need our leader back.”


	26. Chapter 26

(Dipper’s POV)

I opened the journal to find it was written in a strange language. The same language Bill’s notes were written in before. How am I supposed to read this? I’ve looked for that language before, but have never found it. As I was flipping through the pages a piece of paper fell out. It had an anagram on it. Theban. What does that mean? 

“I really should have gotten more sleep last night. My mind’s all fuzzy. Do you remember something about spiders? Because I just keep getting the chills and thinking about them all of the time.” Oliver complained.

“No, you must have dreamt that.” I lied and played along with what Noah did to Oliver. I wonder if he also forgot about the kiss last night. While we were walking back I kept trying to rearrange the letters, but nothing made sense. 

“Shit, I forgot to tell my parents where I was going. I need to get home!” Oliver said as he looked at the missed calls and messages on his phone. “See you later.” He waved goodbye and started his long run home. 

Once I made it back I used the help of the internet to figure out what that anagram meant. I put it through a generator to see all the different variations the letters could make. Some of them were words, but nothing that might help me with solving this. 

“Dip-dot, what’s up?” Mabel knocked on my door.

“Nothing much.” I said as I heard her open the door.

“Where’s Oliver?” She asked.

“He had to go home.” 

“Oh, okay. Are you doing better today?” 

“Yeah, I mean I have been keeping myself busy. That’s always helpful.”

“Yeah. well I’m off to meet Bella and April now, at the park. Don’t get overworked, okay?” 

“I make no promises.” I teased. Mabel gave me a dirty look. “Of course I won’t.”

“Good.” 

(Mabel’s POV)

I rushed to the park to meet April and Bella. It was kind of strange that Dipper had been in his room all day, but I kind of expected it. With Stan and Ford being gone he has a lot he has to think about. He always took things like this the hardest. However, he did look like he was doing pretty well when I checked on him. That eased my worries, for the time being.

“Hey!” I waved when I saw April and Bella hanging out by the swingset. April waved back. “How are you doing today?”

“Great, as always.” April said cheerfully as Bella stared up at the sky. It was like she was stuck thinking about something. 

“I hate your plans.” Bella randomly said. April laughed and playfully hit Bella on the shoulder. 

“Now then, do you need any help planning homecoming? I’d love to be able to help.” April asked. 

“Of course! We could always use some help. I’ll show you where our meeting will be held after school on Tuesday.” I was excited that April wanted to have an active role in the school, but I was still hoping to get Bella to do the same. She might just need some motivation to get into the school spirit.

“Can we get to the point now?” Bella asked. I tilted my head questioningly. April sighed. 

“You don’t always need to be in such a rush. I mean you weren’t, for, how long?” Bella flicked April. 

“Idiot.” Bella stood up from leaning on the swingset. “We know all about Gravity Falls and the events you were a part of.” She said.

“W-what do you mean?” I asked, nervously laughing. She couldn’t mean what I think she means, could she?

“We know about Bill’s stupid ideas.” April added. Bella quickly glared at her.

“I wouldn’t say something like that if I were you.”

“It’s not like he’ll do anything.” Bella continued to glare. “Anyways, we know all about that stuff. Of course, we didn’t want to start with that. On top of that we weren’t planning on telling you until later, but there has been a change of plans because someone is impatient.” April glanced at Bella; who was still glaring.

“How do you know about that? How do you know Bill?” I started slowly backing away from them.

“He’s our boss, of sorts.” April said. Watching Bella glare at her. It was as though they were having a silent competition. 

“What?” I had no idea what she meant.

“Oh, did Dipper not tell you anything? I thought for sure he would want to share what he learned about Bill. I mean he did get all of Bill’s memories.” April looked a little confused.

“He never told me anything like that.” 

“Well this will take a while to explain.”

“Bill runs a business in the nightmare realm.” Bella said shortly.

“Yeah, I guess that’s simple enough. Though it doesn’t even begin to explain it.”

“What does that have to do with me?” I said before I realized who they were really here for. “Wait, you want to get Dipper. Don’t you?!” 

“Y-yes in a way. We just need you to trust us, so maybe we can get closer to Dipper. We need to talk to him.” April responded.

“No! I won’t allow it.” I started walking away. Before I could get far a hand grabbed my arm. “Let me go!” I said and pulled my arm away from whoever was touching me.

“Mabel, aren’t you the least bit curious about why we are here? You haven’t heard anything about Bill in years, don’t you want to know what he’s been up to?” Bella whispered to me. I froze where I stood. She was right about that. What had he been doing? Why was it as though he just disappeared?

“Y-you promise not to hurt Dipper?” I didn’t know if trusting them was the right decision, but it couldn’t hurt to let them tell me what they came here to say. 

“Of course, now please, let us explain ourselves.” 

(Dipper’s POV)

I had been staring at the blank computer screen for an hour, and I still didn’t know what that word meant. I didn’t recognize it. The feeling in my gut had changed again, it was a familiar feeling to me. Anxiousness. I get that all of the time, but it’s weird knowing that’s what Bill is feeling. Normally he is so sure of himself, and doesn’t have a care in the world. Of course, he hasn’t been his normal self in a long time. My phone started ringing and I answered it. 

“Hello?” I didn’t look at who was calling when I answered, and kind of wished I had looked before answering. 

“Hey, Dipper. I called only because I need Mabel to answer my messages as soon as possible. It’s an emergency.” It was Pacifica. Why was she calling me?

“Shouldn’t you call Mabel?” 

“I’ve tried. She’s not answering.” 

“Not even answering her text messages?” 

“No, that’s why I’m calling you. Dumbass.” 

“Well, if you want me to help you, you are going to have to drop the sass down a notch or two.”

“Whatever!” 

“So do you want my help or not?” 

“I don’t need your help. I’ll just call someone else and get them to help me.” 

“Who else do you know that lives with Mabel and knows where she is; most of the time.” I knew she would have to rely on me to help her get into contact with my sister, so I didn’t hesitate to mess with her.

“Why aren’t you concerned about your sister not answering her phone!?” 

“How long ago did you message her?” 

“Ten minutes ago.” Pacifica said sheepishly. “But it’s important.” 

“What would be so important that you would resort to calling me for help?”

“That’s none of your business.” 

“Are you sure? I’m pretty sure Mabel will tell me. In fact, she left about an hour ago. She might have left her phone here. Which means I can look at her phone and see what is so important.” I normally refused to invade my sister’s privacy, but this was to mess with Pacifica. Not like I was actually going to do it anyways.

“Uhg, you’re so frustrating.” 

“Exactly.”

“I’m going to be visiting your town in a week. I just wanted to let Mabel know, and since she had told me about how soon homecoming was. It matched the time I was going to be there. So, I asked her if she would go with me. You happy now?” I didn’t know how to respond to that. That really didn’t sound like something that would be that important. 

“Do you like my sister?” I teased; expecting her to freak out, but instead she got really quiet. “Oh, shit. You do like her.”

“So what if I do?” Great, now I have to decide to help Pacifica get rid of Josh, or let Mabel be. Which I did enjoy that idea more than Josh being around, but it’s still Pacifica. Might as well try. Even if it was Pacifica; I would rather have her around than Josh. Honestly, I was liking the idea of helping her ruin my sister’s relationship just a little too much.

“I’ll see what I can do.” I hung up on her and stretched. “Might as well go find Mabel.” I muttered to myself.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm really sorry about this note. I know some will not even read it, but to me it's a little bit important. It's something I want your feedback on that will decide how this story goes. I know there will be a few or maybe a lot of you that won't like how I give you the option to choose and probably would prefer that I just write, but I don't feel that this story is going in the way that it needs to and I really don't want to disappoint anyone. I mean somehow this derailed from my original plan, but this way it's going to be a lot longer, so yay, maybe.
> 
> So the choice is if you want to skip some pain (not any really serious pain, in my opinion) but it will take longer for Billdip, or have a little bit of pain, add another character (Seriously I am not liking the addition of characters, but I kind of like it and it might be useful for later, who knows), but there will be more fluffy Billdip sooner. So if you are interested in letting me know what way you would prefer just comment or whatever. Also if I don't get any responses it becomes my choice, so no complaining. 
> 
> Side note to this note, I realize there are a few places that have spelling and grammar errors and I will be going back to fix those once I am done with this fanfiction because it would take me forever to review this entire piece and I would prefer to keep writing. I hope you don't mind.

(Dipper’s POV)

I walked to the park where she was going to be meeting April and Bella in. The most eventful place in this town it seems. When I got there I found it surprisingly empty. I sighed and tried calling my sister. She didn’t answer. I assumed she must have went with April and Bella to the house I had seen Apirl in before. That was the second place I tried. When I knocked in the door Noah answered.

“Hey, why are you here?” He looked genuinely confused. 

“Is my sister here by chance?” 

“Oh.” He said as though it all made sense to him now. “Mabel, yeah.They’re having an ‘important discussion’. Were you able to figure out what the journal says yet?”

“No.” 

“Really? Even with the hint I gave you?”

“You put that piece of paper in there?”

“Of course, April wouldn’t make things that easy for you. You’re supposed to use that brain of yours to figure it out.” Noah stepped outside and closed the door. “Seriously though. How have you not figured it out yet? I practically told you.” 

“What do you mean you told me?” 

“Theban, the Theban alphabet. That’s what it’s written in.” Noah explained.

“I’ve never heard of that before.”

“Of course not. It’s a short lived, not well used alphabet. But if you google it you’ll find it. I’m not helping you anymore though. Good luck. And, expect your sister to be back in a couple of hours.” Noah said before walking back inside and closing the door. I only stood out there for a few moments until rushing back to my room to google that Theban alphabet. Sure enough a chart popped up instantly. After a few moments of wanting to bang my head against the desk because of how easy that was, I grabbed an empty notebook and started translating it. Once I got through the first line I realized that it was in Latin. Which made finding the right letters easier considering for one symbol there was a chance of it being three different letters.

I had gotten the first page written in Latin before Mabel got back. For a moment, only a moment, I forgot about what Pacifica had asked of me. Time to see what she was talking to April and Bella about, and maybe hint about Pacifica a little.

“Hey.” I stopped my sister as she was heading to her room. She jumped at the sound of my voice. That’s weird. “What happened?”

“N-nothing!” She said while quickly turning to face me.

“You’re not being very convincing.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me about Bill? When you got his memories. He’s basically a mob boss.” Mabel seemed to gain confidence. I thought about her description and thought it did kind of fit, but it was still a weird way of putting it to me.

“What happened?” I asked again. This time she looked more ready to talk to me.

“I can’t tell you, but what I can say is that April and Bella aren’t going to hurt us. They just want to talk to you.” Mabel said before turning away from me and going into her room.

“Oh, Mabel, don’t forget to check your phone. You have an admirer.” I shouted to her. She didn’t say anything back, so I went back to working on the journal. 

The more I did this the easier it got, but I still hadn’t translated any of it to English. For the most part I could read what was written; saying English came from Latin. It was written in entries that took up almost three pages each. Once I finished the first entry I decided to start translating it so I could read it. 

With the, somewhat, help of online translators I was only able to get the first page done before I passed out. When I woke up the pages of the notebook had been wrinkled, and I had no idea what time it was. I checked my phone, it was three in the morning. I looked to see how much progress I had made. Three pages in Latin, one page translated into English. Good, only two-hundred more to go. I sighed and put the papers away. No sense in keeping up with this anymore tonight or should I say this morning. 

"Hey, hey, hey Pine Tree. What did the dog say to the cat?" There was a very brief pause. "Nothing, because cat’s don’t talk."

What the hell is going on? I started freaking out. I hadn’t seen or heard from Bill in a year, and now he’s speaking to me telepathically. Even worse the first thing he had to do was make the dumbest joke I have ever heard. 

"Well it’s not like I planned it. I’m just bored. I mean you know how much pent up energy I have. I feel like I could destroy a continent, but that’s frowned upon." I could hear the eye roll as he said that. It’s good to know he’s keeping himself in check.

"Highly frowned upon." I responded. "Where are you? Why did you basically vanish for so long?" I started asking the questions that have bothered me for a while now, since those were the only things I could think about at the moment.

"We both know why I ‘vanished’. Though I had always been in plain sight. You just didn’t look for me."

"That’s not true! Ford and Stan were looking for you the whole time!" 

"But did they really want to find me? Wouldn’t have just been easier to let me be? I wasn’t hurting anyone. That you know of anyways." 

"That I know of?"

"Hey, if you didn’t care about it before there’s no need for you to care now."

"What did you do? Who did you hurt?"

"Oh, look at the time. I should get going. See ya soon Pine Tree."

"‘See ya soon’? What do you mean ‘see you soon’?" I didn’t get a response. But I felt, nervous, and a little excited. "Wait, Bill, I need to know what happened to Stan and Ford." I called out in my head. Hoping to get an answer. 

"Don’t worry about them. They’re safe."

"‘Safe’, They’re not dead?"

"Course not, the Pines are harder to kill than cockroaches, well at least Stan, Ford, you, and Mabel. Trust me, I’ve tried. However, I can’t speak for the other people in the Pines family." There was a bit of humor in Bill’s tone, but I didn’t find it funny. "It’s hilarious. You just don’t have the right sense of humor."

"No, I think you have the wrong sense of humor."

"Well who cares who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong. Point is, it’s funny."

"Nope, not funny at all."

"Okay fine, but this is funnier." I waited for him to say something, but nothing happened. Then I started feeling something messing with my hair. I turned to find a three headed deer with glowing spots standing right behind me. I pushed away from the deformed creature; pushing myself onto my desk. Knocking a few things off in the process. 

“What the hell!?” I shouted; genuinely freaked out. Just as soon as I had gotten far enough away from the thing it turned to dust. Then I started hearing Bill laughing. 

"See, it was hilarious." 

“That was anything BUT funny.” On accident I shouted that out loud too; just as Mabel rushed into my room. With our parents right behind her.

“What happened?” My parents asked. 

“Sorry, I got freaked out. I thought there was something crawling on me.” Was all I could think up to say in the short time. Mainly because earlier when I was translating the journal I had an encounter with one of those two headed spiders. Seriously, I have no idea why Bella would have created those things. Or what was the whole thing about adding heads to creatures. I guess it did make them look weirder, but why? 

“I’ll get the spray.” My dad said tiredly. He had the most problems with those creepy spiders out of all of us. It seemed as though he couldn’t go a day without having one of those freaky things showing up.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t think there’s anything in here. It was just my imagination.” I explained. My parents didn’t seem to believe me, but left me alone anyways. Probably too tired to argue. Once they were gone Mabel was able to ask her questions.

“What happened?”

“Bill, he started talking to me.” Mabel seemed to be less surprised by that than I expected. “He decided to try and be ‘funny’ by making a three headed deer appear in my room.”

“Three headed deer? And what’s with all of the glowing stuff on your floor?” I looked down to see what she was talking about. The dust the deer had turned into was scattered across my floor. It looked like Mabel’s room after working on an art project that included glitter. And since she used glitter so much I knew how hard it was to get rid of. 

"Dammit Bill. If you’re going to be a prankster at least clean up after yourself." I complained as I went to get the vacuum. 

"But it’s part of the prank. You honestly think I would just scare you? I need long term damage." There was a pause before he started talking again. "Do you care about the school you go to at all? I’m asking for... reasons."

"Yes, I do."

"Are you sure? Because I can get rid of it if you want." He sounded innocent, and as though he wasn’t talking about destroying an entire building for the fun of it.

"Don’t do that."

"Okay, oh, I know. Have a pet." 

"No, Bill, please. Stop." I couldn’t help but feel apprehensive; what the hell is he thinking. Though, I can’t believe I missed his constant annoyance this much; it kind of comforted me. When he wasn’t trying to freak me out that is. Just as I was started to feel better I got another scare. A three headed dog the size of a Great Dane that looked like Cerberus, the hellhound, the guardian of hell, was standing right next to the vacuum. "Bill! Why? This thing looks like it’s going to eat me!"

“Dip-dot, do you want help? I know a few tricks that might be able to clean that mess up quickly.” Mabel ran into the room. The dog jumped up and started growling. I expected her to get as scared as I was, but she didn’t even seem to notice the dog. 

"You’re the only one that can him, well, other than me. He’s a guard dog." Bill explained. 

"He better not attack Mabel." Was all I could think.

"Of course not, he only attacks someone that will harm you. Anyways he’s my dog, and I’ve made sure he wouldn’t attack your family. Can’t let something like that happen." He mocked. "Though he does like bacon, so I won’t promise nothing will happen if you eat bacon in front of him. There... was an incident with bacon one time." Bill said that as though recalling a bad memory. 

"Great." I thought, now I can’t eat bacon. Not like it was my favorite food anyways.

“Dipper?” Mabel asked. 

“Sorry, um, yeah it would be great if you could help me out.” I answered. She went back to her room and brought a few different supplies into my room. 

We spent the rest of the night cleaning my room. Considering how dark the circles under my sister’s eyes were I could safely assume she didn’t get any sleep. By the time we were done, for the most part, the sun was already lighting up the morning sky. At least it’s still the weekend.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a horrible chapter focusing on all of your least favorite characters. Though I must say, there are some important hints in here. I don't know if anyone has already started figuring it out, but not everything is as it seems.

(Noah’s POV)

I woke up to the sound of someone shouting. Most likely Adrian messing up a spell again. Being the good kid I am I decided to see what happened, and most likely help him, most likely. Though if it has anything to do with that weird goo I saw him messing with yesterday I’m staying out of there. As I opened the door to my room I was greeted with a spider. Why do they hang out around here so much? Bella doesn’t even live here, and they’re her spiders. Why can’t they bother her more?

“What happened?” I asked as I walked into the room I expected Adrian to be in.

“Close the door!” He shouted. Just before I could close the door a gremlin looking thing ran passed me and out of the room. Adrian took off after it. Just as the thing moved to take a turn he was able to pounce on it, and he threw it into a portal to who knows where. 

“What happened?” I asked. It was the first time I had seen something like that, and it was pretty ugly looking. Though from living with him for almost a year now stuff like that doesn’t surprise me anymore.

“It was another failed experiment.” He said while walking back into the room. He paused in front of me, and slapped me on the back of my head before walking into the room. “When I say ‘close the door’ close the damn door.” 

“I didn’t know there was a gremlin thing that would hightail it to the door.”

“At least try to react quicker next time.” He begged. 

“Yeah, of course.” 

“Anyways, since you’re up. Do you want to help me?” 

“It’s what I live for.” I joked; though it wasn’t far from the truth. 

~~~

Just as we were able to get everything ready to begin the day's work a scream stopped us in our tracks. 

“April?” I asked. 

“April.” Adrian said and sighed. 

“Spider again? I did see one this morning.” I asked. 

“Probably.”

“Too bad we can’t make a magic barricade.” One of my favorite things was the magic barricade; when made specifically it could keep out the magic of one specific person or demon. It was very complicated, but fun to make. However, Bella, we couldn’t keep out. 

“I really wish we could. Or that Bella would learn to stop making those spiders. What even happened to make her want to make those in the first place? I thought she didn’t like spiders!” Adrian complained. 

“Well, we know April doesn’t like them for sure.” I joked. 

“Unfortunately.” I never really understood what kind of relationship Adrian and April had, but it was somewhere on the romantic side from what I had seen. Though really it just seemed like April used him as a shield. And I had no idea how Bella fit into the puzzle. She was never around, but seemed to always be there. In the form of spiders, and in other ways I couldn’t identify. Even with all of my years of training. 

“I swear if I could I would cut off her magic supply and see how she likes it!” April shouted as we saw her throw a good sized spider out the window.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join the softball team.” I teased. 

“I’m sure.” She glared at me. “I swear! This is completely not fair! Not at all! She can torment me like this, but she makes it so I can’t do anything back! All while I am just trying to help her!” April started pacing back and forth. Not noticing she had put her shirt on backwards. 

“Just give it some time. Don’t forget you’re on a short leash now. You did kind of mess up big time not too long ago.” 

“That was years ago.” 

“In this dimension’s time.” Adrian countered.

“Well… It’s still not fair.” 

“I can set up a barricade if you would like?” Adrian asked; though the answer was going to be no. April would only get in more trouble if she did that. I was surprised when she didn’t say that right away.

“It won’t work. We know that already.” She eventually sighed. “However, is there anything you can do to keep arachnids out?” April questioned happily. I knew that something like that wouldn’t be easy, at all, but I also knew Adrian would do it for her. Keeping out an entire species wasn’t as easy as one person. You’d have to collect a lot of tiny hairs or just use the entire spider, the entire spider would be easier. Which means catching one. I shuddered at the thought. A few days ago one of them crawled on me and their hairy legs were very uncomfortable. It was like being walked on by a bunch of pins.

“I’ll see what I can do.” 

“Really?!” April jumped and hugged him. “You’re the best.” As she went in for the kiss I turned around and left. It felt too awkward to stay around any longer. 

“Is there a make out session in progress?” I heard a voice asked. When I looked down at the bottom of the stairs I was walking past I saw a blonde man walking up them towards me. 

“Yeah.” I answered. When he made it to the top of the stairs I noticed he was basically the same height as me, and had light brown eyes that looked like amber. He grinned wickedly.

“Great, I love nothing more than to mess with her.” The man said and walked down the hallway. I had never seen him before, but if he could get in than that meant he wasn’t an enemy. 

“I thinks she’s already dealt with enough this morning.” I told him. 

“Spiders again?” 

“Yes.” The man hummed happily before turning back to me. 

“Name’s Bill.” He said and held his hand out for me to shake it. 

“Noah.” I said and shook his hand. I didn’t need to ask to know this was Bill Cipher. In my short time here I had heard more than enough about him. Most of it wasn’t good. Though I was more of the person the demons that work with him went to to vent their frustrations. If I told another demon about it it would be easy to call me a liar and get rid of me; I’m just a human anyways.

“I heard you had to miss out on the first day of school because of one of Adrian’s mess ups.” 

“It was more my fault.”

“It was his fault for not watching you carefully enough.” He didn’t say that as though to defend me, it was more as if it was a fact. 

“May I ask why you are here?” I decided if he was talking to me I might as well ask some questions.

“I’ve noticed my journal is missing. I’m guessing April has something to do with it.” I tensed up at the mentioning of his journal and that was a mistake. “I’ll take that as a yes. Do you happen to know what she’s done with it?” 

“No.”

“There’s no need to lie. I’ll find out the truth one way or another.” He didn’t sound threatening, but I knew something bad would happen to April if he found out what she had done with his journal. Bill sighed. “If I have to I will use force. I’d rather not though.” 

“She gave it to Dipper.” I found myself saying before I could stop myself. I glared at him, he used his power on me to get me to say that. 

“And she wonders why I don’t trust her.” He said calmly. Though I could tell he was anything but calm. “It seems I am going to have to find a way to get that back now. Or destroy it.”

“I could get it back for you.” I offered, hoping that might get her off the hook.

“See, now that’s why I let them keep you around.” He said happily and turned to walk off to the room I had seen April and Adrian in. What did I just do? Now I have to get that journal from Dipper. He’s probably got it on lock down until he can figure out what it is. At least he doesn’t seem to have figured out what it says yet. Maybe I could use that.

“I’m so stupid.” I muttered before walking down the stairs. I can’t use any spells on him, but I’m not good at being subtle.


	29. Chapter 29

(Dipper’s POV)

The day seemed to be flying by, but of course it was a Sunday. The last day of the weekend never lasts. I hadn’t gotten around to doing much since that dog started following me around. I decided to name him Cerberus after the guardian of the gates of hell because that’s the only thing I could think when I saw him. On top of that freaky dog bothering me, Bill hasn’t answered me all day, also the journal didn’t seem to be making much sense. Whoever wrote this really didn’t want someone to read it because some words were backwards, creating a new word. Every once in awhile a whole sentence would be like that, but from what I’ve translated it was important. It had hints at the dimension travel Bill took. 

“Um, Dipper.” I heard a knock at my door. I didn’t even hear Mabel or my parents let someone in. Without too much worry I opened my door, and to my chagrin, had to look up to see that the visitor was Noah. How did he find out where I lived? “Hey, I need to talk to you.”

“About what?” 

“That journal April gave you.” I stared at him for a few seconds before letting him enter my room. 

“Are you a demon too?” I asked out of curiosity. Noah let out a small, nervous laugh.

“No, I just study under one.” He answered. Strangely he had taken a seat on my floor. Though, I have seen weirder.

“How did that happen?” It seems like I’m not the only human a demon would take interest in. 

“I’m not really sure. He just started visiting me in my dreams.” 

“Well, they tend to do that.” I joked as I grabbed the journal. It had left a black mark on my desk that would take a miracle to get rid of. I took a seat across from him and placed the journal at my side.

“Yeah, how has the translation been going?”

“Bad.” 

“Well, you did have a rough start. Could I see what you’ve got done?”

“Sure. It would be great if you could tell me if I’m doing it right.” I said and handed him the notebook I had been writing in. Though he seemed to stare longingly at the journal. 

“Wow, you’ve got quite a lot of it done.” Noah said before nervously laughing again. 

“Are you okay?”

“Of course. It’s just been a rough day.” He kept reading what I wrote, but he furrowed his brow once he got to the middle of the page. “I don’t think that’s what this part is supposed to say.” He pointed to the one sentence I couldn’t figure out. It didn’t make sense anyway I looked at it. 

“Yeah, I was having trouble with that one.” 

“Do you think I could look at the original text for a second?”

“Sure.” I said thoughtlessly. I pulled the book onto my lap and turned it around before handing it to him. He took it and opened to the first page. He skimmed it.

“I’m sorry Dipper.” He said before closing the journal and sprinkling something over top of it. It disappeared. My eyes widened when I realized he didn’t come here to help me. “That part, the one you were having trouble with. It says ‘in time he will be mine’ you just need to rearrange the letters. Like so.” he made a pencil appear and showed me how to fix it before erasing it and replacing the part with the right sentence. I didn’t know what to say. He just took that journal from me right when I was just beginning to make sense of it, now he’s acting like nothing happened.

“What did you do?” 

“I’m sorry, I needed to get it back. April should have never took it.” 

“Whose journal is it?”

“I can’t tell you.” Noah strained. “Though I hope you can guess from what you’ve got.” 

“‘In time he will be mine’.” I repeated. Bill. “It was Bill’s, wasn’t it?” Noah didn’t respond. That would also explain the hints at the dimension travel.

“I should go now.” 

“No.” I knew I wasn’t going to let him go when he was all I had to get information from now. “Tell me all you know.” 

“That will never happen.” 

“Have you seen Bill?” I couldn’t help but ask. A part of me was worried what he was doing now. 

“I’ve only come into contact with Bella, April, and Adrian. They are the only demons I have met.”

“Oh.” I was disappointed; I had really hoped he might have been able to tell me something about Bill. “How do they know Bill?” 

“I can’t tell you this stuff. Just talk to Bella.” Noah cringed after he said that. As though he said something he shouldn’t have. “It’s best if you talk to her. Please don’t tell her I told you too. Though, she probably already knows. I should leave now.” Noah said and got up. He looked scared to leave, but determined to go anyways. I let him walk out of the room. ‘Talk to Bella’? What will that accomplish. She doesn’t seem like the chatty type. Where will I even find her? I guess I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.


	30. Chapter 30

(Dipper’s POV)

I barely made it through half the school day, and I was already freaking out. April had been bothering me non-stop, asking how it was going with the journal. I didn’t tell her anything about what Noah did to it. Finally, it was lunch and I could spend that time to plan what I was going to ask Bella, right? Wrong. Noah found me and is dragging me someplace.

“Where are we even going?” I complained. 

“Just to the English hallway.” Noah said. A funny thing about this school was that during lunch the English classrooms were always empty. It’s where the delinquents would spend their lunch period most of the time, from what I’ve heard.

“Why are we going there?” 

“I need to get you prepared to talk to Bella, now don’t I.” Noah said and smiled at me. “And there is no one better to help you with that than, April.” He said as we turned the hallway to find April making out with some guy. Noah groaned. “Why?” He complained. I recognized the guy as the one I had seen at the house Noah lead me to before.

“Took you long enough.” The man said. 

“You’re not even supposed to be here.” Noah sighed. 

“Can’t I visit my favorite human while he’s at school?” The guy said and messed with Noah’s hair. Somehow Noah was able to keep up a constant glare. I’m sure he had to have gotten hair in his eyes at least once. 

“You’re only here to make out with April.” Noah responded. 

“Not true. I need to give you this.” 

“Oh.” Noah said and stared at the small woven bracelet that seemed to shine different colors when light hit it. “Did you make that for me?” Noah didn’t seem to believe that it was his, and I could swear he was blushing.

“Yes, now don’t lose it.” 

“Wait. You…” Noah looked suspiciously at the man. “You went into my room, didn’t you?” 

“I would never do that. I got your DNA from the time you cut yourself in the lab.” The man said with an eye roll.

“Good.” Noah said and slipped the bracelet on. “Oh, Dipper, this is Adrian, he doesn’t like you because he doesn’t like Bill, so don’t take it personally.” Noah introduced the man quickly.

“No, I really do not like that yellow-” Before Adrian could finish what he was saying April hit him in the back of the head. 

“We have more important things to discuss right now.” She chided. “Now then, you need some help with talking to Bella, right?” Her eyes seemed to light up as though this was the greatest moment of her life. 

“Uh, yeah. I just need to ask her about Bill.” I didn’t know what she was getting so excited about. 

“Do you miss him?” April said, still smiling.

“Well, I just want to see him again. I mean, there’s a lot of things I need to ask him.” I corrected myself. 

“Now then, first thing you need to know about talking to Bella. She isn’t as bad as she seems to be. I mean sure, she’s not really friendly right now, but that’s because she’s pretty stressed out. So don’t be scared of her.” 

“I’m not scared of her.” I piped in, but April just shook her head at me. 

“We’re all afraid of her.” April said teasingly. 

“I’m not.” Adrian added. 

“The only thing you’re not afraid of is your own shadow. And sometimes you even get scared of that.” April said and stuck her tongue out at him. Adrian didn’t try to defend himself. Neither did Noah. “Now, advice number two.” April held up two fingers. “If you mess up just bring up those stupid theories you have, I guarantee she will be interested in what you have to say. Which brings me to my third piece of advice. You can’t just prod her for answers about Bill, she’ll start closing up and you won’t get anything from her.” April poked me on the forehead. Then pushed back my bangs. 

“Hey!” I pushed my bangs back down. She giggled. 

“Now I’m going to help you talk to her during gym class today. Don’t mess it up, got it?” She smiled at me warmly.

“Yeah.” Though I felt a little awkward about this. Why was she so happy I was going to be talking to Bella?

“Now then, who’s hungry?” April said happily. “Because I have brought my favorite noodles!” As I could of expected she made the bowls of noodles appear from nowhere on top of that they were floating. Though I have to say it looked really good. 

~ ~ ~

The rest of the school day flew by too quickly. It was already the last hour of the day, and now that I thought about it. I hadn’t seen Oliver all day. Where was my moral support when I need him? I was almost, almost, hyperventilating before I left the locker room. However, Noah showed up.

“What are you so worried about?”

“That I’ll be turned into soup.” I forced a laugh. 

“Bella’s not that mean. She might look like it, but she won’t hurt you.” Noah winked at me. I didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but I felt a wide variety of emotions. Or maybe it was just the noodles. Either way, I didn’t feel ready for this. 

I walked out onto the gym floor. Come on Dipper, you’ve been over this whole talking to girls stuff for years. Don’t let this one girl make you nervous. Sure, she may be a demon, but don’t let that scare you. I do still have that guard dog. Though I haven’t seen him around lately. He just sort of comes and goes when he feels like it. 

“Hey! Dipper!” April motioned me to join the small group she was standing in on the other side of the gym. Today was just supposed to be an easy day, so talking to Bella should be simple enough. 

“Hey.” I said as I joined the group. 

“Now Noah!” April shouted and she pointed at him. I was shocked to see they disappeared soon after. I quickly scanned the room to make sure no one had seen it. Somehow it seemed as though no one noticed the two kids vanishing in the middle of the gym floor. 

“So, they ditched us.” Bella said and crossed her arms. “That shouldn’t surprise me.”

“Heh, yeah.” I said lamely. What am I supposed to say?

“You know, I don’t see the teacher anywhere.” Bella said while she scanned the room. “Do you want to skip this class with me?” She offered. My gut reaction was no, but I needed to talk to her.

“Sure.” 

“Cool. Follow me.” She said and started walking out of the gym. As we passed through the gym doors she snapped her fingers and I was back into the clothes I had on before. Bella was wearing a Fall Out Boy shirt that I approved of, and skinny jeans. “Do you do this often?” 

“Huh?” I spaced out and completely forgot what she said. 

“Do you skip class like this often?” She repeated. 

“No, I’ve never actually done this before.” I said. She laughed, and it wasn’t a mocking laugh. I actually kind of liked it. I hadn’t paid too much attention to her before, mainly because I was too scared to get caught looking at her, but now I noticed something about her. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but there was something. 

“Nerd.” She said while laughing. We were silent after that. I followed her outside of the school, and I noticed she was heading towards the back of the school that strangely led to a forest. Everyone always found it creepy. I jumped when I heard the bark of a big dog, but it was only Cerberus. Bella didn’t seem to notice him running right for her. Even demons can’t see him? I thought to myself, not expecting an answer, but of course I would get one. 

Of course not. I did say that only you and I can see him. It was Bill.

“Hey Dipper.” I felt a pain as I noticed Bella flicking me on the forehead. 

“Yeah.” I still needed to ask her questions about Bill. “Do you know where Bill is?” I blurted out. She stared at me for a moment, and I was holding my breath waiting for her answer. However, I was distracted when I heard a happy bark from right behind me. Cerberus was jumping side to side, as though expecting someone to play with him. 

“What’s up with you?” I heard Bella ask me.

“Sorry.” I forced myself to look away from the dog. Though his actions were strange. He seemed really happy for some reason. Maybe he was happy to see me. I have been giving him a lot of bacon recently. Mainly because my family ate it almost everyday, and I didn’t want to have to worry about him eating anyone. 

“But to answer your question, I do know where Bill is.” She said and started walking into the forest again. 

“Where is he?” I rushed to ask.

“I hope you’ll be smart enough to figure that out.” Was all she said in response. We fell into another moment of silence. How am I supposed to figure out where Bill is? April gave me his journal, that I hadn’t been able to read before Noah took it. Though April didn’t know about Noah taking the journal from me, so who told him to take back the journal? It could have been Bill, but that’s just speculation. Then there is also Cerberus. He was created by Bill and is probably his pet. Is he supposed to be a hint? 

“He told me Stan and Ford are safe. Are they really safe?” Bella stayed silent. 

“Yeah, they’re safe for the moment.” 

“Can I talk to them?” Bella looked like she was about to say something, but stopped herself.

“No.” 

“Why not?” 

“There’s a lot of things going on that you haven’t noticed yet. If only… Never mind.” Bella started moving faster and I was having trouble keeping up with her.

“What do you mean? What’s happening?” I tripped on a tree root.

“Are you okay?” Bella suddenly appeared kneeling in front of me, and helped me up. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She scowled. 

“Humans are so fragile.” I didn’t know what she was talking about. Bella pulled out a piece of cloth and wiped it across my forehead. When she pulled it away it was covered in dirt and blood. I placed my hand on my forehead, but didn’t feel anything. Bella threw the cloth behind her and it burned up before hitting the ground. 

“Thanks.” I couldn’t help but feel comfortable right now. It was mainly Bill’s fault, for whatever reason he was really happy and it was affecting me too. Things just felt right; though there was something I was missing. While I was thinking about all of this Bella had kept walking, and now I could barely see her. “Wait!” I called to her. 

“If you weren’t so slow I wouldn’t have to wait for you.” It sounded as though she was right next to me, and I couldn’t help but shudder. That’s way to creepy. I ran to catch up with her. “I’m proud of you. You didn’t fall this time.” She teased. 

“Why are you taking me way out here?” I asked. Now noticing that the shade from the trees was actually making it feel colder than it already was. 

“So no one can hear you scream.” She said seriously. For a second I thought she was being serious and thought about running for it, but then she started laughing. “You’re so gullible.” She doubled over with laughter. 

“Well I don’t know why brought me here.” I defended. Slowly she calmed herself down before getting serious.

“You see, this is why you need to get to using that brain of yours again. For more than that whole dimension travel idea. It’s a dumb thing to obsess about, and it’s been done before.” 

“What do you mean?” From what I could tell there was nothing different about me. I’ve been studying for school, and reading the journals until I could recite them by memory. 

“You haven’t been solving mysteries or trying to explain the unexplainable. You’re out of practice. If you’d just look you’d find some things that need solving. For instance, if you want to find Bill, you’re going to have to look for him.”

“Why doesn’t he just speak to me?” 

“Because you’re the one that left him.” Bella hissed. Her change of tone startled me. I blinked at her a few times before I realized that made sense. I was the one that left him, but why does he have to complicate things? All he really needs to do is talk to me. 

“What do you mean when you say that there are things that need solving?” Bella rolled her eyes.

“Solve them yourself. I’m not going to tell you.” She started walking away from me again. “Ah, here we are.” She said happily as we reached a small clearing with a small, and very fitting tree in the middle of the clearing. All of my time at Gravity Falls told me to stay away from that tree. Something placed so perfectly had to have been placed there for a reason.


	31. Chapter 31

(Dipper’s POV)

 

Bella walked right up to the tree, and started climbing it. I didn’t move from where I was standing. 

 

“Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to join me?” She shouted. 

 

“I think I’m going to stay right here.” I answered her. I heard her groan before jumping off of the tree. 

 

“Then I’ll carry you.” She didn’t seem like she had any patience for me, and that got me moving towards the tree. “Finally.” She sighed. Before she could reach me I made it to the tree and started climbing. I was getting a weird feeling from just standing next to it.. “Now then, do you happen to see anything?” Bella asked as she joined me.

 

“Is this tree glowing?” I squinted at the limbs of the tree; they seemed to be giving off a faint glow.

 

“Anything else?”

 

“No.” There wasn’t anything else I could see that was different about this tree. Then I started hearing things. It was Stan’s voice. I looked up where I heard his voice coming from, but there wasn’t anything there. Just leaves from the tree. Just leaves… They are glowing too, brighter. I turned to look at the leaves in the branch I was sitting on. They were glowing just as bright, but when you got a closer look there was images flashing across them. “Wait, is that?” I turned bright red when I realized the leaf I was looking at was playing the memory of when I confessed my feelings for Wendy. I looked away from it quickly. “Why are my memories in the leaves?” I asked, and wished I could have kept that memory from resurfacing. 

 

“So you can see them. I guess you’re not completely hopeless.” She said smugly.

 

“Why are my memories in this tree?” I asked again, more sternly. Bella just looked at me. 

 

“Bill made it.” She said quietly. 

 

“How do you know that it’s here?” Bella hushed me. She seemed to be listening to something, something I couldn’t hear. 

 

“I have to go.” She said quickly and vanished. “Dipper, go home.” I heard her voice; yet couldn’t see her.

 

“Wait!” I shouted, but she was already gone. That’s when I noticed that Cerberus appeared again. He was circling the tree. It wasn’t as though he was waiting for me to get down to rip me to pieces as I first assumed. He was looking around into the forest. Something’s wrong. 

 

However, instead of listening to what Bella told me I started climbing the tree. There was a few memories I wanted to see. When I made it to the top the leaves looked gold; I knew this was where I needed to be. I went from leaf to leaf until I found one that I wanted to see. Honestly, this one wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I still felt better as I watched it. It was the time Bill threw me off a cliff, traumatizing me. But hey, what are demons for if not traumatizing people. I kept looking at different memories of Bill until I got to the last one. When I left him. That one was black and looked dead. Not much of a surprise to me. It wasn’t a happy memory. I reached out to grab it just as Cerberus barked. In the position I was in, leaning as far out as I could on this small branch, I was lucky enough to have only flipped upside down.

 

“Cerberus, why?” I said as I looked below me at the multi-headed dog wagging it’s tail beneath me. He barked again, and again, and again. It was as though he was rushing me. “Fine! Okay, I got it.” I said and slowly started trying to right myself again. Though Cerberus barked again when I wasn’t expecting it and I lost my grip. The only thing I remember after I fell was the thud when I hit the ground. As I looked up I saw leaves raining down from the tree.

 

“I can’t leave you alone for one minute and you do this?” Bella returned; I was still out of breath and didn’t have the energy at the moment to look up. “You realize only you can take leaves off of this tree, and if you take off a leaf you never get that memory back? You’re just lucky I can fix this.” I heard a whistle. “Take him back home for me.” I couldn’t see who Bella was talking to. I started to get the worse headache of my life as I could feel that I was being moved.

 

As I left the safety of the treeline and the sun filled my eyes; I had to cover my eyes. What is happening to me? Is that tree really connected to my memories? Will I really lose memories? I just hope Bella really can fix that tree, but how could she?

 

~ ~ ~

 

It felt as though I had been sleeping for years. However, I was surprised to learn it had only been four hours. Bark! Cerberus was next to my bed; how did I get here? I don’t remember much after falling out of the tree. The tree; I need to go back and see it. I didn’t feel like I was forgetting anything, but if I really forgot it then I wouldn’t be able to notice. However, if there is a bare spot on the tree I will be able to see that. 

 

“Cerberus, I’m going back to the tree.” I didn’t know why I felt like I needed to tell the dog that, but I did. Which earned me a growl. We stared at each other for a long time. He never took his eyes off of me, and looked ready to do anything to keep me here. “What? Am I under house arrest from now on?” 

 

"Sorry Pine Tree, it’s best if you stay there." Bill’s sentence was choppy and it was as though he was focusing on something else. 

 

"Why?" 

 

"I’ve told," He paused. "the dog not to let you leave." I stared at Cerberus. He was still watching me carefully. 

 

"Could you tell me why I’m stuck here at least?" 

 

"It’s complicated. I'll tell you later" 

 

"That’s not an answer!" I was still in the middle of a staring contest with Cerberus when my door was flung open. 

 

“Dipper! Are you okay? April just disappeared mid sentence. Then I couldn’t find you! I thought something might have happened to you!” My sister cried as she hugged me tightly. 

 

“No, Mabel, I’m fine. Nothing happened to me. Though Bella left in a hurry too. Did April give you any hint at what might have happened?” Because it seems like Bill won’t tell me anything. I complained. 

 

"I’ll tell you later." He said irritated. With our connection I knew that he was trying his hardest not to get mad right now, but I wanted to know what was going on. If it concerns me I have a right to know. 

 

“No, she just vanished.” Mabel let go of me and jumped back. “Dipper, run!” She started pulling me away and staring right at where Cerberus was standing. 

 

“Wait, can you see the dog?” 

 

“Yes! Though that thing is not a dog.” Cerberus let out a hurt whimper. Mabel, being an animal lover, reacted to the whimper. “He’s not going to hurt us?” She looked to me for the answer.

 

“No, he’s here to protect me.” I answered. She nodded and cautiously walked up to the dog. My sister laughed as two heads licked her at once.

 

“I guess he’s not that scary. Though, why were you not surprised to see him?”

 

“Well, he’s kind of been following me around to a while, but you couldn’t see him. I wonder why you can see him now.” It was a question pointed to Bill, but he didn’t answer.

 

“So you’ve basically had a secret dog? Oooo, you’re in so much trouble.” Mabel joked. 

 

“Mabel, I need your help.” I smiled at how quickly I can up with this plan. “I need you to go into the forest for me, the one behind the school. I’m kind of on lock-down because of your friend here.” I motioned towards Cerberus; which one head eyed me cautiously while the other continued to lick my sister. He barked a couple of times, and it was weird that Mabel listened carefully.

 

“He says it’s not safe to leave.” 

 

“You can’t understand what he’s saying.” She looked offended.

 

“Of course I can. I speak dog fluently.” She laughed. “No, but I know how a dog will act when protecting its pack, and you’re part of that pack.” She flicked me on the forehead. “Anyways, what’s so important in the forest?” 

 

“There’s this tree Bella showed me. It is covered in my memories.” I slowed down in my speaking as I recited the embarrassing part. “I kind of fell off of it and knocked a few leaves off, I want to know if I lost those memories. Bella said she could fix it, but how could she do that?” Mabel looked at me carefully, and I was stuck with both Cerberus’ heads and my sister watching me. That’s awkward; mainly the two headed dog staring at me.

 

“Well, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I mean, who knows why they left. It could be dangerous to leave our house.”

 

“Mabel, come on. You’re supposed to side with me on this one.” 

 

“No can do bro-bro. When it comes to your safety I don’t mess around. But maybe I could just take a quick peek at that tree of yours.” She said with a smile. Cerberus growled lowly. “Aw Fluffy! Don’t say that!” My sister cooed. 

 

“Fluffy?” 

 

“It’s the perfect name.” I internally groan at my sister’s name for the dog. It doesn’t match at all. The funny thing is that I could of swore Bill did the same thing. 

 

“I’ll see what I can do bro-bro.” My sister winked at me as she started leaving the room. “Make sure you didn’t forget anything important.” As she made it into the hall Cerberus blocked her path, but she wiggled around the dog. 

 

Now’s my chance. I realize my bedroom is on the second floor, but I also had an escape plan created since my first visit to Gravity Falls. Just in case, I grabbed my bag with some helpful things I’ve picked up. Now’s the time to test it. As I had rehearsed mentally I climbed out onto the small overhang below the window. Below that near the back of the house was the deck that wasn’t far off of the ground, but even that small distance is better than all of the way. I lowered myself down until I was barely hanging on then let go. I fell and landed on my back, that was not part of the plan. I got up quickly and ran to the gate my parents had put in the back. Now I don’t really know why they thought it was a good idea, but when an old lady was living in the house behind our it was nice to not have to walk as far to help her out. But she’s gone now, and I don’t know how appreciative the new neighbors will be about it. Though, I’m really appreciating it right now. 

 

I picked this way because I knew the fence in the front of her house was lower and I could jump it with ease. As I made it to the sidewalk I took a chance to look around me to see if my sister’s distraction actually worked. So far no Cerberus, but the more distance I can put between us the better. 

 

Just as I started running again I stopped in my tracks as I heard a growl from behind me. I turned to see Cerberus, but this time he was much scarier. Normally he was big, but definitely not as big as he is now. He looked to be as big as a small bus.

 

“Sorry?” I was caught. What am I going to do? My first instinct was to run for it, but that would never work. He appeared in front of my sister, so I could only assume he could appear anywhere he wanted to. Just as I was reaching for my bag one of the heads snapped at me, and I froze. I felt myself being lifted off the ground by the hood of my sweatshirt. “You better not rip this sweatshirt!” It’s my favorite sweatshirt, but that wasn’t my biggest worry. As I got a quick reminder of how teleportation felt. Cerberus set me down in my room and I flopped to the floor. It felt like my organs in my had switched spots. 

 

“Looks like I win.” I heard a man’s voice say. Then I distinctly heard my sister’s huffing. 

 

“Come on Dip-dot I was rooting for you.” I worked up enough energy to look up. Noah was here. 

 

“It’s not like it was much of a challenge. I did help make Fluffy anyways.” Noah said as he started petting the hellhound. I can’t even call him a dog anymore after what I had seen. 

 

“Fluffy?” I wanted to roll my eyes, but I couldn’t without getting another wave of dizziness.

 

“April pick out the name. It was a mistake to let her pick really.” 

 

“That hellhound’s name is fluffy?” 

 

“Yeah, it’s supposed to be ironic. Also, I’m guessing you’re wondering why we can see fluffy, right?” I nodded slowly. “That’s because Bill’s busy at the moment. Very busy. But his brother does mess up often.” Noah smack himself on the head. I didn’t understand what he said. Bill’s brother? He has a brother? My expression must have shown my confusion. “Sorry. I forget sometimes that Bill wiped his memory of him, honestly it was everyone’s. That’s why you don’t know him yet. You’ll get those memories soon enough though; probably.” Noah began laughing. “I wonder if you’ll like him or not. He’s, an interesting character.” 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“Oh that tree!” Noah ignored my question. “I will be back shortly.” He bowed and disappeared.

 

“He seemed a little out of it.” I said as I finally forced myself to sit up. The spinning feeling was still there, at least it felt like my organs were back where they needed to be. 

 

“He has a lot of things he has to do, and because of us he has one more thing he has to do.” Mabel answered. “But it looks like he will be able to make it to the tree. He’ll be able to tell us if anything is missing.” 

 

“Good.” I was about to stand up when another wave of pain hit me. A headache just like I had before. 

 

“Sorry, drink this.” Noah said as he handed a cup to me. I didn’t even look what was in it before I drank it. “There was some pruning of that memory tree of yours, so you’re gonna have that headache for awhile. Though I’m surprised you weren’t put under more strict conditions since you tried to run off. I mean, there’s me watching over you now too, but that’s still light considering how determined you can be.”

 

“What did you do?” I felt fearful of what he meant by ‘pruning’.

 

“Well, Bill didn’t want you to get those memories of his brother. Too embarrassing I’m guessing.” I looked at him questioningly. “You’ll understand if you meet him.” I wanted to ask more questions, but I wasn’t able to. My mind was fuzzy, and all I really wanted to do was sleep it off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you know that OC I said I was going to be adding, it's not so much an OC. More like a character that was never in the show but is part of the fandom. I'm sure you'll be able to guess. Also I was thinking about deleting this other Billdip story I had started and replacing it with a zombie apocalypse AU, before I did that I wanted to see if anyone would be interested in it.


	32. Chapter 32

(Dipper’s POV)

 

I wasn’t even aware I fell asleep until I woke up. Though I wish I had a better wake up call than ‘Fluffy’ licking my face. It was dark outside, so I assumed I was asleep for awhile. 

 

“Fluffy, get off.” I commanded and the demon dog listened. Instinctively, I reached down into my pocket to grab my phone, but it wasn’t there. Did I lose it? I checked all of the usual places it would be in, but I couldn’t find it. Finally, I gave up on looking for my phone and looked at the clock in my room; which I had to move a pile of papers to see. Four thirty. Four thirty in the morning? That couldn’t be right. I couldn’t have slept that long, could I? That’s most of the evening and all night. 

 

“You’re finally up. I didn’t believe it when Mabel said you went to sleep as soon as you got home.” My mother said as she walked into the room. “Are you feeling better today?”

 

“Yeah.” I didn’t understand why she was asking that, but it must have been part of Mabel’s cover. She must have told our mom I was sick. That was she would believe, I seem to get colds easily. 

 

“That’s good.” She nodded. “Though, why didn’t you tell me a friend was going to be staying over?” 

 

“Friend?” I stared blankly for a few seconds until I saw Noah wave at me as he walked passed. “Oh, it was kind of short notice. Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” I wasn’t even aware he was going to be staying here. I knew he was supposed to watch me, but I still don’t even know why I’m under house arrest.

 

“You’re just lucky he’s a great help.” She teased. “Otherwise you would be in big trouble. Since you’re up, would you like some breakfast?” My mother asked. 

 

“Sure.” I guess there’s no point going back to sleep. As I passed by Mabel’s room it looked like she was lucky enough to still be asleep. Four in the morning is not my recommended time of waking up. I walked down into the kitchen to find Noah making something. 

 

“Do you still have a headache?” He asked.

 

“No, now are you going to tell me what’s been happening?” 

 

“No, but Bill will. Also I suggest you go to school today. I don’t think you would want him stopping by your house. Or maybe you do.” Noah shrugged. “I wouldn’t.” He added quietly. 

 

“Bill? He’s really going to be here? Not just talking to me in my head?”

 

“He’s been here for awhile. I’m just happy the lying can stop. I am not good at it.”

 

“Lying?”

 

“Yeah, lying. Now then, what do you want to eat?” 

 

“I’ll just have cereal.” Noah started eating whatever it was he made. I couldn’t tell, but it looked somewhat like scrambled eggs that should have been an omelet.

 

“Fine, you have someone that can make you anything you want and you go for the cereal.”

 

“You don’t seem to be the best cook.” I nodded to the food on his plate.

 

“I’m not a good cook, but I am good at making food.” Noah winked and turned the messed up omelet into a much better looking one. “I had to do this because your mom wouldn’t leave me alone this morning. You know, she’s really interested in your love life.”

 

“What?” I stuttered. 

 

“She kept asking me if you and that Oliver dude were together yet. I told her no, and she said it was such a shame because you didn’t seem to socialize much.”

 

“Why were you talking to my mom?” My face felt hot and I tried to not think about what else my mother could have told him. She’s not the type to keep personal things personal.

 

“Because she was awake and I was awake, and your house is tiny. I couldn’t really avoid it. Oh, and about your friend Oliver.” Noah looked as though he was trying to word things properly. “He’s not around anymore.” Noah looked like he didn’t know if what he said was the right thing or not. 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“He’s gone.”

 

“Gone where?” I got this weird feeling that I didn’t want to hear what he meant. Noah cleared his throat.

 

“He’s dead.” I set down my bowl of cereal and watched Noah carefully, hoping he would say he’s joking.

 

“Does that have something to do with yesterday?” 

 

“Yes.” He nodded.

 

“What happened?” 

 

“It’s complicated, and I don’t even know all of the details.” 

 

“What do you know?” I felt dread engulfing me, and knew that whatever Bill was going to tell me; it was going to be the worst news I have gotten in a long time. 

 

“All I know is that Bill’s brother showed up, and that’s supposed to be bad luck.” There he goes talking about Bill’s brother again. What is going on? What happened to Oliver? I was keeping hopeful that what he had been told was wrong; I’ll believe it when Bill tells me. 

 

I got to school, and everything looked strangely normal. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t for the day to be this normal. Nothing was unusual. Except that Mabel wasn’t talking to her boyfriend; which was a happy change. I kept looking around for Bill, but I didn’t see him or anyone that looked like him. 

 

“Dipper, are you feeling okay?” My sister asked me. 

 

“Yeah.” I lied. “Just can’t wait for the day to begin.” It was weird that Mabel didn’t know any of this. She spent more time around April and Bella than I did, but she seemed completely clueless about what was going on. 

 

“Dip-dot, there’s something I should have told you before, but I knew you wouldn’t like to hear it. On top of that he asked me to keep it a secret, but I can’t do that anymore. Keeping a secret from you is the hardest thing to do.” Mabel said shyly. “And with everything that’s going on.”

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell him.” Bella suddenly showed up in front of us. Mabel jumped and let out a little squeak. I looked at her questioningly. That wasn’t a normal reaction for her, but she’s been doing that quite a lot recently. She did say there was something she was keeping from me, that squeak might be her tell. We normally didn’t lie to each other so I never figured out what would giver her away. I should remember that and test it later.

 

“Okay.” She said “Good luck Dipper, and don’t freak out. You tend to do that.” Mabel patted me on the back and left. That wasn’t very reassuring to hear.

 

“I think it would be better if you tell Mabel what I am going to tell you. She’ll take it better hearing it from you. Follow me.” 

 

“Where’s Bill?” I asked, I was told he was going to tell me what happened. Bella laughed. 

 

“You really haven’t figured it out?” Bella shook her head. “I practically told you yesterday! I thought for sure you would have guessed it already.” 

 

“Is the dog’s name really Fluffy?” There was a grim look on her face.

 

“Jessa has lost her naming privileges.” I nodded. So yesterday when Fluffy was excited it was because of Bella. He was happy to see his master again. Though it was hard for me to believe it. Why would Bill be disguised as a girl?

 

“Well it wasn’t obvious, now was it?” She responded, or he, I guess. 

 

“Why did you do it though? Couldn’t you have just, oh I don’t know, talk to me?” 

 

“So here’s the thing...” Bella, or Bill, I still didn’t feel comfortable thinking of Bill when he still looked like a girl, leaned on me with her arm wrapped around my shoulders. The area around us changed from the school to all white. I looked at him questioningly. Bill had now dropped the disguise and I was happy to see his face again. “You left me, and I took that as a get lost, so I did.” Bill didn’t seem to hesitate as he was speaking. Even though I felt a pang of guilt. However, he did ask me to choose between him and my family. “But then I decided, fuck it, and I was going to make you mine one way or another. However, a few friends of mine stopped me from doing that.” I didn’t know what he meant ‘one way or another’, but knowing him it probably wasn’t something I would have liked. “Though, things got all messed up when Ford figured out the dimension travel. Worst thing he has done in a while.” 

 

“Ford figured it out?” 

 

“So did your friend Oliver.” Bill added. “Now, here’s where things take a turn. You might want to take a seat.” A chair appeared behind me, and I was forced into it. 

 

“What happened? And why didn’t you tell me you have a brother?” 

 

“Well I wiped my memories of him of course, so I didn’t know I forgot to mention him.” Bill was watching me as he was leaning over a cane. I felt myself starting to smile, it was the signature Bill all right. “Anyways, I hate to the be the barer of bad news, but” He paused for an uncomfortably long time. “your great uncles and your friend are dead. There are a lot of demons that would kill, literally, to know what they knew. I was trying to keep that from happening, by hiding them, but of course Stan and Ford didn’t trust me so they left with your friend, while my brother was watching them, it was my mistake really, I should have known better than to do that. And once they were on the map again all hell rained down on them and the first demon that got to them took their knowledge and killed them.” I didn’t know what to say. After I thought they were safe I lost them again. I didn’t even get to talk to them.

 

“How did they get out?” My voice cracked as I said it. I could tell Bill wasn’t lying to me. The soul bond we had made it impossible. However, that only made things worse. There was no doubting it. Last time I have Bill telling me they were all right, and that’s all I needed to hear, but now I don’t have that comfort. 

 

“You great uncles were tough, and my brother is somewhat of a pushover. It didn’t really take much. I should have been watching them instead. I just wanted to see you again.” Bill looked at me with a sad smile. “I’m sorry Pine Tree.” 

 

“Whoa, the great and powerful Bill saying sorry?” I joked through the pain. Stan and Ford really are dead, and so is my only close friend. It felt like I lost everything, but when I thought about it, there’s still a lot I do have. Mabel, how am I going to tell her this?

 

“I wish the bad news stopped there, but...”

 

“If you erased your memory of your brother how did he get here? Wouldn’t you have had to tell him?” I wanted to know more about Bill’s family. Honestly, I didn’t know demons had family, and it was something to take my mind off of things.

 

“Of course we do.” Bill rolled his eyes. “Anyways, I said he was a pushover, not stupid. He needed to escape the nightmare realm so he watched Ford carefully until he figured it out; then he made it here and decided to annoy me.” Bill continued to grumble under his breath.

 

“Why did he need to escape?” 

 

“Since I was gone a few demons decided to take advantage of him, thankfully and sadly, they were the ones that got to Ford. Thankfully because I can finally turn them to dust for messing with my brother, sadly because they aren’t the type you want to mess with.” I nodded in understanding. I wiped away the tears in my eyes, there’s other things to worry about now. 

 

“Could I meet your brother?” I asked hopeful. If Bill has some family I would like to meet them. He looked at me distastefully.

 

“I’m sure you’ll meet him eventually. Right now probably wouldn’t be a good time for you though. I’m sorry.” 

 

“Why are you apologizing?” 

 

“Because I tried to make up for the horrible things I did to your family and I ended up messing that up, so you have no reason to forgive me. In fact, now you have more reason to hate me. I guess I’m just not good at this good guy stuff.” I chuckled.

 

“That’s true. The role as the villain suits you much better.” I said as stood up and walked towards to him. “Though we have gone over this before. Even after all the things you do that should make me hate you, I can’t. In fact, I won’t. Ever.” I was standing in front of him as I finished speaking. “Now, are you going to kiss me, or just keep staring at me?” Bill broke out of his daze and smiled wickedly at me. He pulled me into a kiss. It was a kiss that seemed to be everything I needed. The kiss seemed to embody all of the apologies Bill wished to tell me, and give me the comfort with knowing there was always going to be someone who cared about me. Even if it seems like everyone I care about is dying.

 

“Um, I don’t mean to interrupt.” 

 

“Then why are you here?” Bill said sarcastically; I was surprised he didn’t sound mad. 

 

“I’m sorry!” I looked around Bill to see who was speaking and was shocked to find another guy that looked exactly like him. Except for one difference. This guy’s eyes were blue. 

 

“Is that your brother?” I whispered to Bill.

 

“Yep, this is Will.” he was standing so far away he had to speak loudly to be heard. 

 

“Why is he so far away?” I mean this is basically an endless white space, and he picks that spot to be in when talking to us. 

 

“Good point.” Bill smirked. In a flash we were right in front of him and Bill wrapped his arm around his shoulders. “This is my brother Will. Yeah, our names are as similar as we look, and it can be very annoying.” As Bill was introducing his brother, Will was covering his face with his hands. Finally after he was done speaking Bill flipped his brother’s sweatshirt hood up and pulled the strings as tight as it would go. 

 

“I’m sorry.” Will mumbled. Bill laughed and bumped into his brother who just fell over. 

 

“See, pushover.” Bill laughed. 

 

“Why do you always do that to me?” Will said as pulled his hood down. 

 

“The real question you need to be asking is why do you keep letting me?” Bill answered quickly. 

 

“I, um, I don’t know.” Will looked confused as he thought about it.

 

“Anyways, you probably want to talk to your sister now.” Bill took his attention off of his brother. I nodded. How am I going to tell her this? She’s not going to be happy with Bill. Which I can understand, but I know he didn’t mean for this to have happened.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my opinion the quality of this story has been decreasing, so I have decided to end it before it becomes any worse. The next chapter will be after a time skip of about a year, and it will be the last chapter. I'm sorry I never got around to adding in any smut into this fan fiction; I originally planned to do so, but it looks like a bunch of fluff is going to have to make up for that. I'm sorry if these last two chapters are disappointments!

(Bill’s POV) 

“Were you able to find them?” I asked Will once I had taken Dipper back to his sister.

“Yes, but how are we going to get rid of them? They’re really mean!” Will complained.

“Not half as mean as me.” I answered. Will sheepishly nodded.

“Don’t make a mess though. I don’t want to clean it up for you.” He said as he crossed his arms.

“How often do you really clean my messes for me?” I was partially offended by his attitude. I am not that reckless. Though I have been known to be at times.

“Well there was the problem with the snakes, bats, that rip in time and space you made, those weird cats that actually weren’t that bad, and did I mention the snakes? On top of that you always pick fights and I always have to be the one to take care of you afterwards.” 

“This time I have a good reason.” 

“But still. Maybe you should get Jessa’s help.” That gave me a wonderful idea.

“Why don’t you help me?” I teasingly purred.

“No!” Will jumped and looked like he saw his life flash before his eyes. 

“Come on, I thought we were always supposed to have each other’s back?” 

“You did leave me. I think that gives me one free pass.” 

“Good point.” I nodded. “Counter point…” 

“No, there will be no counter points.” Will pouted before disappearing. 

“Fine, I’ll do it myself then.” I put my hands up in feigned defeat. No way was I going to ask an idiot like her for help; I’d rather handle this myself. 

(Dipper’s POV)

I tried explaining everything to Mabel the best I could. For the most part she kept her eyes closed and nodded. She was handling this as good as I expected. 

“Dipper, do you really believe what Bill told you?” She asked after I finished telling her everything. 

“Yes.” I answered sternly. 

“Did he tell you anything about the demon’s that killed them? Are they going to be a big problem?” 

“I don’t know, he only talked about them briefly.” I remembered how his brother showed up. “I got to meet his brother.” I said happily. Mabel seemed to be interested in that. 

“What was he like?” 

“Quiet, and a literal pushover.” I laughed a little as I remembered the scene. 

“Really? He didn’t seem scary?” 

“Nope.” I said and shook my head. Honestly, I didn't know what I was expecting Bill’s brother to be like, but he wasn’t at all as I had imagined. “He seemed nice enough.” 

“Hi, I’m sorry if I’m interrupting you. I just needed to apologize. It’s my fault, what happened with your friend and uncles.” Will appeared and said all of it in a jumble. I was lucky to have understood a word he had said. Mabel looked at me questioningly and mouthed ‘is that him?’. I nodded and she inspected him. “Oh I’m Will.” He introduced himself as he noticed Mabel didn’t know who he is. 

“You look exactly like Bill.” She answered, both of us didn’t want to talk anymore about our uncles at the moment. The only other thing to talk about was the stranger in the room. Somehow we were able to get out of school today, so we were just sitting in the living room. There was a gas leak or something; most likely Bill’s doing. 

“Oh, no I don’t. My eyes are different, and most people say they can tell us apart from just glancing at us.” Will answered. Still speaking a little too fast. He really needs to calm down.

“Why did Bill wipe his memory of you? And why did he keep me from getting his memories of you?” Will squeaked, and tried to laugh it off.

“Sorry, I don’t like talking about it. I just messed up big time and it was the best way to keep me safe.” 

“How did you mess up?” Mabel prodded for answers. “I think we deserve to know. After all you do need to make it up to us.” I gawked at my sister for a moment. That was a low shot, even for her. 

“Pacifica’s rubbing off on you.” I whispered for her to hear me. 

“Is not.” She whacked me with the back of her hand as she said that. 

“I made some powerful people angry. I accidentally knocked over a statue.” Will responded and covered his face like he did before. “Dipper, you share souls with Bill, right?” He asked as he removed his hands from his eyes. I nodded. “Do you feel any pain at all?” 

“No, why would I?” I got a little worried. 

“Oh, um, I was just wondering. If you do you should tell me.”

“Are you and Bill twins?” Will shook his head. 

“Bill’s older than me.” 

“How much older?” I asked. Will thought about it for a second. 

“Your time is so confusing.” He complained. “I guess it would be about 800-900 years; somewhere between there.” I stared blankly for a moment. Putting it in that sense it made me uncomfortable just how much older Bill is compared to me.

“And how old are you?” I decided to ask. 

“About 4,000 years in your time.” He answered quickly. I rested my head on my hands. That means Bill would be about 4,800 years old. Mabel caught on and started laughing. “What’s so funny?” Will asked.

“Dipper, your boyfriend is so old.” Mabel continued to laugh. It took a moment but then I heard an ‘oh’ coming from Will. 

“I forgot that that was a long time to you. What’s that show?” I looked up to find that Will was talking about the latest show my sister and I binge watched. 

“It’s amazing.” I answered quickly. 

“Definitely.” Mabel nodded in agreement before starting to play it. We made it four minutes into Stranger Things and Will was already covering himself with a blanket he suddenly made appear. I made Mabel stop it. I couldn’t be giving Bill’s brother nightmares; I don’t even know if they could have nightmares, but I wasn’t going to find out.

“Come on bro-bro. This show is good.” But I pointed to Will and she gave in. I stood up and was going to grab a DVD so we could watch a movie when a sharp pain caused me to fall. It felt like I had been cut across my stomach and when I went to check I thought for sure I would see a pool of blood, but there was nothing. 

“What happened?” Will looked at me cautiously. 

“You know when you told me to tell you if I felt any pain. I think I know what you meant now.” The pain in my stomach wasn’t going away, but I really wish it would. I was able to stand up again, but decided it would be best to just lay down until it went away. Will disappeared without a word, leaving us alone. Just as suddenly as the pain came it was gone. 

“Dipper, what happened?” Mabel was by my side not really sure what to do. The only thing I could think about was Bill. I was able to catch my breath again now that the pain was gone. 

“I think something happened to Bill.” I answered. 

“What are we doing here?” I heard Bill’s voice, and looked to find him and Will. 

“So then Dipper will know it’s because of your stubbornness he collapsed in pain.” Will scolded. Bill looked like hell; I mean like he just made it out of hell. His clothes were all ripped up and burned, and he looked tired. 

“Shit, Pine Tree.” Bill rushed to me after Will told him that. “Are you okay? I forgot that even our pain is linked.” 

“I’m fine. What happened?” I asked. 

“He decided to go by himself to take care of the other demons.”

“Well I got rid of them, didn’t I?” Bill countered with a smirk. 

“And you made a mess like I told you not to.” Will responded. It was funny seeing them like this. You wouldn’t be able to tell that Bill was older than Will by how he was being scolded like a child. However, he didn’t seem to notice or mind. I’d rather assume it’s the latter. 

“That’s not a mess.” Bill laughed. 

“There’s a crater; in the middle of a forest. For no reason.” Bill shrugged it off.

“It will give the meatsacks something to think about.” I rolled my eyes.

“You’re still going to call humans that?” I complained; it was kind of insulting.

“Of course, it’s the best description of the human race.” He smiled at me as though he knew that it bothered me. Though, what can I do about it? 

“Are you okay?” I asked. Whatever happened to him must have been bad if it was able to hurt me that much. It surprised me when he looked at me with awe. “What?” 

“Of course I’m fine Pine Tree. I have you.” He said and hugged me really tight. I couldn’t breathe, but didn’t say anything about that. Not that I could if I wanted too. 

“What’s up with you?” I finally said once I was able to get him off of me. 

“I got hit pretty hard, so I’m still a little dazed.” He said with a smile. Will nodded in agreement. 

“Maybe you should sit down then.” I offered. Bill tried to ignore me. 

“I fine though, really.” He stumbled as he said it; not making a good point for himself. I wasn’t really interested in having to deal with him breaking something so I pushed him onto the couch. However when I tried to back away from him he grabbed my hands and forced me to sit on his lap. He held onto me; keeping me from leaving him. 

“What are you doing?” Instead of answering he just nuzzled his head into my back. I heard Mabel’s phone go off and quickly looked to see what she was doing.

“So cute, I have to show Pacifica.” It was only a few seconds after Bill pulled me onto his lap that I felt his grip around me loosen, and his breathing became shallower. He’s asleep. I carefully tried to move his arms from around me, but his grip only got tighter. 

“I’m stuck.” I told Mabel; who was loving every second of this.

“This isn’t funny.” 

“Yeah, it is.” Bill mumbled. 

“Bill let me go.” I commanded. However, he seemed to have gone back to sleep; though I didn’t know if I believed that anymore.. Finally I decided to try and wiggle my way out of this; if I can’t get out at least I’ll wake up Bill. 

My plan backfired. I didn’t wake up Bill, and the only thing that changed was that he was laying on his side now. Meaning I had been dragged with him. I gave up. This isn’t that bad. Out of all the situations I could be in right now; this is one of the more happier ones. Especially when it involves Bill. I decided to try and fall asleep too; not that I really needed it, I’ve been sleeping a little too much with the whole memory problem I had. It was surprising it didn’t take me long to fall fast asleep.

~ ~ ~ 

“Thank you Pine Tree.”


	34. A Summer in Gravity Falls Once Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of this fanfiction! I hope you all enjoy!

This summer is turning out to be the best one yet for the Pines family. Mabel and Dipper were both surprised that their parents didn’t mind having Bill and Will around. It was mainly due to Bill’s magnificent bullshitting skills; if he hadn’t been able to come up with a backstory for him and Will in a second they probably would have never been allowed in the house. Considering the first time Mr. and Mrs. Pines met Bill he was cuddling Dipper on the couch, their relationship has come a long way. A very long way.

That summer was almost over, but there was still one more important event to take place. Dipper and Mabel’s birthday. With some help from Mabel and Mrs. Pines, Bill had been able to plan the most unforgettable birthday for Dipper. Though, there was bigger plans than just a birthday party.

“Is everything ready?” Bill whispered to Mabel who was by his side. At the moment they had gotten Dipper distracted with a surprise present from Pacifica. However, Mabel was the one that got it since Pacifica refused to get anything for Dipper. It seemed that those two were never going to be good friends; though they tolerated each other from time to time.

“Yep.” Mabel winked and handed him a small box. “Don’t chicken out now.” She teased. 

“When have I ever?” Bill countered. He hid the box in his pocket. 

“And don’t mess it up.” She warned. Bill had been known the make the most romantic gestures weird. One time he had gotten Dipper flowers and once Dipper touched them they became venus fly traps and bit his nose. Bill had laughed for an hour while Dipper freaked out. That is; until Dipper got it off his nose and threw the dangerous bouquet at Bill. Who was too busy laughing to notice. They went through an entire box of band-aids that day. Bill huffed and continued walking towards his Pine Tree. He wasn’t going to mess this one up. 

The birthday party was small, but with everyone knowing what was about to happen the room got quieter. Everyone was looking at the two men. Waiting for the main event. 

“Finally you’re here. I don’t think…” Pacifica was about to ruin the surprise; however, Mabel realized how stubborn and ‘unhelpful’ her girlfriend could be, so she snuck around her and tickled her sides. “Stop!” She shouted and chased Mabel out of the house. 

“Hey Bill.” Dipper smiled as his attention was now focused on Bill, and Bill was beginning to question why Dipper hadn’t noticed the change in the guests. It was silent. Bill got down on one knee; though the tradition didn’t make much sense to him, he still followed along with it. Dipper know something was going on at that second. 

“Will you,” Bill started thinking of all the cheesy things he could say, but Mabel’s glare caught his attention. He paused for a long time. Who knew staying on script would be this hard? “Will you be my Pine Tree, forever?” He asked as he presented the box to Dipper. Inside the box was a small gold ring with a pine tree engraved on it. The crowd began to get restless. 

“Can’t even wait a day?” Dipper teased, then paused. Making the suspense unbearable. “Of course I will.” He said as he took the ring and slipped it on his finger. The crowd began cheering. Loud enough to annoy the neighborhood. The two lovebirds didn’t pay any attention to that. In that moment they were in their own little world. Quickly Mabel and Pacifica brought out the confetti shooters and made sure that there wasn’t a spot in the room that wasn’t covered in confetti. 

~ ~ ~

“Where are we going?” Dipper asked exhausted. Bill refused to let him sleep in today. There was something big, yet small that he had planned on doing today. Who knew they weren’t going much sleep that night, Bill, and who knew there was going to be coffee for them when they woke up, again it’s Bill. 

“Don’t worry. It’s just a little thing. Nothing too important.” Dipper was too tired to hear the sarcasm in Bill’s voice. Bill opened a door and ushered Dipper through. “Ladies first.” He joked.

“Then shouldn’t you go first?” Dipper asked; catching Bill by surprise. Bill grinned.

“Fine, but then Will will have to take you.” 

“Take me where?” Dipper asked as he walked through the door. He was surprised to find that he was now in a nice suit, and the scenery was all too familiar. 

“To our wedding of course.” Bill said as he took Dipper’s hand and started leading him around the Mystery Shack. “I know you didn’t want anything really formal, so I hope this will do.” When they made it to the other side of the Shack everything was beautifully decorated. That is, until you pay attention to the wedding arch. 

“Really?” Dipper complained, but eventually laughed. You could find small venus flytraps throughout the whole thing; if you looked carefully enough. 

“It wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t add some irony in here somewhere.” Was Bill’s response. The sides along the aisle were already full of people. It was a lot bigger than Dipper was comfortable with. 

“I’m sorry. I tried to keep it a secret, but when you get all of these decorations out people start noticing what’s going on.” Will explained. He looked as though he had been running around for hours. Bill squeezed Dipper’s hand.

“Don’t worry, if there’s anything you should be embarrassed about, it’s me.” That didn’t really reassure him. Bill has done some pretty stupid stuff recently. Exhibit one being, eating dog treats in the middle of the grocery store. He ate the entire thing and actually seemed to like it. Just remembering it made Dipper question why he stayed with this idiot. 

“You’ve got that right.” Dipper didn’t hesitate to answer. 

“Ouch, just because I say something doesn’t mean you have to agree with me.” Bill pretended to be hurt. 

As the two were making their way down the aisle they both noticed something covering the aisle runner. Bill picked up one of the squishy things. It was marshmallows shaped like teeth. Who did that? Bill looked in the direction of my sister. Pacifica, who was sitting next to her pointed at her. In which Mabel slapped the hand away. 

“Deer teeth, very funny.” Bill whispered. It began to make sense now; that one time with the deer teeth. Dipper didn’t want to think about that right now; aren’t the fly traps enough? The walk down the aisle took longer than it should have, considering Dipper continued to refuse to step on the squishy deer teeth; even if they were just marshmallows. Once they made it to the front Soos was there to greet them. 

“Soos!” Dipper was surprised to see his friend there. “I didn’t know you could officiate weddings.” 

“Dude, I just took a class online and boom. Now I’m here getting you married.” He explained shortly. For the first time Dipper looked into the crowd of people. He was able to recognize everyone there. It was a surprise to Dipper that his family was sitting on both sides; though it did make sense. Bill only had Will; that anyone knew of, and it would be painful to see how empty that one side would be. And considering Dipper’s family and friends, they would never allow something like that. Even though they are only getting married today, Bill’s already part of his family. 

Neither of them were really able to understand what Soos was saying, but said “I do” on cue, and the exchanging of rings. Which was the worst part for Dipper, he had to be the one to drop the ring; though Bill just made the ring appear back in his hand as though nothing happened. One of the perks of having a demon as a fiance. Dipper took a moment to scan the crowd. Most people here were his friends, and he was really surprised to find Wendy with her friends here. Didn’t she plan on getting out of Gravity Falls as soon as possible? Why would she be here? Before he could ponder it long, really he was distracting himself, a hand gently forced him to face the man standing opposite of him; or should he say demon? Over time it had gotten hard for Dipper to think of Bill as a demon as he seemed to be using his powers for small, stupid things; really stupid things.

“‘You may kiss the bride.’” Bill teased. 

“Don’t mind if I do.” Dipper kissed Bill before he could say anything else. They could continue to bicker like that for hours. It has happened once when Bill said ‘ladies first’ for the hundredth time. The jokes continued until they left the store they had been shopping in. Dipper couldn’t stop himself from smiling as all of those memories came to mind. The two finally stopped kissing when Mabel and Pacifica started jokingly booing them. “I can’t wait until they get married.” Dipper said.

“I already know how to get back at them. How do you think they will like bats?” Bill said in return.

“Pacifica would kill you.” 

“Well, she can try.” He shrugged. 

“Don’t get yourself hurt. I don’t like having to deal with that pain.” The biggest downside for Bill of the soul bond was that Dipper would feel his pain, which meant he couldn’t hurt himself for fun anymore. However, if Dipper ever got hurt then Bill would feel the pain. So Bill didn’t mind being rough with him. 

The reception after the wedding was about what would expected from letting Bill and Mabel have free rein of the planning. Bill’s mischief seemed to rub off on both of the siblings. Which is why there was hints of some of Dipper’s phobias; which only he would understand. Even though Dipper had been tired in the morning, he didn’t feel tired at all anymore. Maybe it was because Mabel and Pacifica dumped ice water on him and Bill. 

“We are going to start planning how to ruin their wedding day tomorrow morning.” Dipper said firmly after getting the ice water bath. “We must take every opportunity.”

“Because clearly they missed none. I’m proud of them.” Bill said happily and nodded in approval. “I think your sister did a much better job at learning from me.” Bill said as he poked Dipper on the cheek. “I mean, if you think about it, we can start getting back at them right now.” Bill was mentioning the fact that they were next to the punch bowl. 

“No, they’d kill us.” 

“I can fix their dresses later.” Bill waved off Dipper’s disapproval. “I’m doing it with, or without you.” He started off towards the punch bowl. There wasn’t much Dipper could do except for follow him. Once Bill has made up his mind to do something; he was going to do it. Surprisingly, Bill and Dipper were able to walk right past Mabel and Pacifica without them noticing. They had been too caught up in their conversation. “Ready?” Bill asked Dipper who was positioned on the other side of the punch bowl. 

“I guess.” He answered timidly; not really sure if he was ready for the backlash. Bill counted down on his fingers until they flipped the punch bowl over in unison on top of the girls that happened to be standing within splash distance. Pacifica screamed while Mabel turned to glare at the two who had caused this mess. Bill had doubled over in laughter while Dipper looked guilty. “Sorry sis.” He said; though he had to admit it was quite fun to see the reaction it got out of them. Mabel stopped glaring and began to smile, then laugh. Even Pacifica; who looked ready to kill someone seconds ago started laughing. Soon enough all four of them were laughing. 

The party lasted long into the night, but slowly as time passed by guests started leaving. Bill was forced to clean Pacifica and Mabel’s dresses; though it was just a snap of the fingers for him. The room got comfortably quiet as those four were the last ones there. That’s when Dipper thought it was time to ask an important question. 

“Do you think we could make one stop before we leave?” He asked everyone there. They all agreed; though wanted to know where they were going. “Someplace important.” Was all he was willing to tell. Bill, knowing him better than anyone, knew exactly where they were going. It didn’t take Mabel long to figure it out as well. 

The two couples slowly walked through Gravity Falls. Thinking about all of the memories they had there. Dipper teased Bill every once in awhile about how most of the buildings had to be rebuilt after his ‘mishap’. Bill apologized until Dipper just kept saying it to piss him off; then he flicked Dipper on the forehead to shut him up. Bill never understood why that got him to shut up, but he didn’t care, as long as he knew where the silence button was. He had always thought it might have something to do with Dipper’s birthmark, but he never asked. 

They finally reached the spot they had been looking for. It wasn’t anything special, but it was a very important part of the town. There were flowers laid out in a circle, and even a little flower garden next to the two stones in the ground. Even though the cemetery was outside of town; these two headstones were thoughtfully placed near the heart of the small town. They read, Stanley Pines and Stanford Pines. This was the first time Mabel and Dipper had visited their graves. 

For a long time they stood there in silence. Mabel left with Pacifica after a few minutes; leaving Dipper and Bill alone. Dipper, being as questioning and curious as he is, couldn’t help but think what happens after death. Are they in so called ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’? Is there even places like that? The science side of his mind tried to convince him that after you died you were gone, but everyone has that hope inside of them that there is more after you die. 

“Bill, what do you think happens to you after you die?” He finally broke the silence. Bill took a moment to think about what to say.

“I have always tried my best to stay away from that topic, but in my dimension the belief is that when you die your consciousness is reborn into another dimension.”

“If that’s true, do you think that we might see them again?” Dipper asked, thinking that it wouldn’t be impossible; not to them. 

“Maybe.” Bill took Dipper’s hand and lead him away. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”


End file.
